Crossed Out
by KevlarMasquerade
Summary: Robin promised that he'd given up his double life as a thief. Imagine Starfire's surprise when she realizes that that's not the case. She doesn't want this... but she can't resist it. RobStarX, post season 5
1. Chapter 1

**Edit: I'm going back and adding author's notes and stuff. So if it's suddenly different, don't freak out. This is the first multichapter fic I'm uploading to the site, so if you guys- yes you, behind the screen- could leave reviews and let me know what you liked or what you didn't like, review or PM me or whatever catches your fancy. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans belongs to DC Comics and the cartoon belongs to Warner Brothers.**

The sky over Jump City was as dreary and grey as it could get. The forecast called for rain, but the clouds held the water in stubbornly, even after days of hanging low in the sky, filled to burst with moisture.

"You already know that in meditation, inner peace is the most important part. I can sense that your inner peace has been disturbed." Raven arched a thin eyebrow at her friend.

"It is true," the princess of Tamaran admitted with a nod.

The two girls were sitting on the roof of Titans' tower. Starfire and Raven got along well when Raven wasn't in a bad mood and Starfire was feeling a bit calmer than usual.

Starfire had asked Raven to help her in meditation. Tamaraneans harnessed the sun's power and used it for flight, superhuman strength, and in Starfire's case, generating starbolts. This depressing weather was taking its toll on the bubbly alien girl. She thought meditating with Raven would help her to tap into her power better until she could recharge when the sun finally came out.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Raven wasn't into dramatics, but for some reason she liked hearing about Starfire's troubles. Starfire was almost her polar opposite. For Raven to use her powers, she had to keep her emotions hidden, pushing them away like they were wrong. Starfire had to embrace her emotions and she used them to guide her every action. Sometimes, when Raven talked to Starfire, she could feel the excess emotion emanating from her. It was a welcome relief from the swirling of her own dampened emotions.

Starfire smiled gratefully at her friend. "I thank you for your concern and interest. It is just that… well, I suppose it is…"

Raven sighed. "It's the Boy Wonder, isn't it."

Starfire flushed a little, but nodded. It wasn't like she hadn't talked to Raven about this before. "It is just that one minute he is so sweet and nice to me, and the next he is so focused on other things that it is like I am not even there. It is very confusing."

"Robin… doesn't express his feelings very well. He puts his guard up most of the time. He thinks that unless he's doing something related to stopping villains, he's wasting his time," Raven explained sagely.

"You mean… he thinks that I am a waste of time?" Starfire asked sadly.

Raven sighed again. "No. Starfire, he was raised by Batman. I don't know how familiar you are with other heroes, but Batman is so serious that he makes Robin on a bad day look like kid in a candy store. Robin tries to emulate that. It's not you."

Starfire nodded. "I see. How am I to know what he thinks of me, then?"

Oh no. This was going farther than Raven thought it would. She wasn't qualified to actually give advice that she knew Starfire would try her best to act upon. "You could always just-" Raven muttered before snapping her mouth shut. _Ask him_, she meant to say at the end of that sentence. But then Robin would probably just deny anything, and then Starfire would be upset, and Raven didn't want to relive the relentless moping and depressed sighing and annoying apathy that followed for a few days after Robin left to train with the True Master.

Starfire was looking at her friend expectantly.

"You could always just- just, um, _wait it out._" That was terrible advice. But Raven was _not_ going to be responsible for any bickering or tension between the two of them. Actually, even if it did work out, Raven wasn't sure she wanted to be responsible for any kind of dating relationship between them, either. The thought made her feel a little sick.

The Tamaranean nodded. "I thank you for the advice."

"Don't mention it," Raven said quickly. "Now, on to meditation."

"Yes. My inner peace has been restored." Starfire rested her wrists on her knees and closed her eyes.

"Find that part of yourself that is calm. …however small that might be," Raven muttered under her breath.

"I am picturing the great rivers, which flowed slowly in the underground caverns of Okaara," she said.

"Uh, good. You know, you don't really need to tell me what-"

Raven was cut off by the alarm. "I guess there's trouble." She stood up and brushed off her cloak. "Sorry, Starfire. We'll have to pick it up again when we get back."

Starfire stood, towering over her friend. Her brows were furrowed with worry. "Oh, but my starbolts are not at full power…"

"That's okay, Star, you can just _talk_ 'im to death!" Beast Boy joked as he emerged on the roof, followed by Robin and Cyborg.

"That's not funny. That's offensive," Raven said, narrowing her eyes.

Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "I was just joking. Joh-king. I believe you're familiar with the term?"

Raven opened her mouth to answer, but Starfire interrupted her. "What is the trouble?"

"It's Red X," Robin answered gruffly, narrowing his eyes.

"Red X? But he has been-"

"I know. He's been quiet lately. HE's striking now, at the wharfs." Robin said with all the command of a good leader.

"Why?" Starfire demanded. "What is there at the wharf?"

"I should've been expecting this. A shipment of xynothium is coming in. He must be running low." Robin nodded at Starfire. "Let's go."

She hovered above him, grabbing onto his wrists as he curled his fingers loosely around hers. Beast Boy, in the form of a pterodactyl, picked up Cyborg, and Raven flew off ahead of them all.

After a few minutes, they all landed. The sky was slowly getting darker and darker, like ink was bleeding over it. With the clouds, it was hard to see well, and it would continue getting darker.

"He should be around here somewhere."

Cyborg held up his hand. "I got this, dude." He tapped on the screen built into his arm before looking up and explaining, "Since the last time we went at it with this guy, I put in a xynothium scanner. It should work like radar." He held his arm out and a red light flashed. He swept his arm around in a circle and the flashing increased as he pointed his arm to the west. He led the group over to a dock.

The flashing came so quickly the beam of light was almost constant. The group was huddled together on the pier, looking down at an armored box that had been deposited.

Cyborg whistled. "For them to just leave it lying on the ground like this… I don't know, man. X must'a been here already."

Robin shook his head. "He wouldn't have been. Why would he leave it like this?"

Starfire shrieked as a hand grabbed at her foot from underneath the wooden boards. She let a starbolt loose, smashing a hole through the boards beneath her feet, but Red X used this as an opportunity. He swung expertly through it, landing opposite the crater from Starfire, He waved at her. "Thanks, Princess. I've been waiting for you guys to show up."

Robin threw an angry punch that Red X dodged without looking. Robin extended his bo-staff and used it to swing his body around, connecting with Red X's forearm. He blocked the kick.

Red X had the upper hand, now. He grabbed the staff from Robin and they wrestled over it, kicking and punching at each other. Red X flipped Robin's cape over his eyes and threw the staff across the hole. He balanced there as Robin hopped on after him. Red X hopped forward extending a leg, which Robin caught and spun roughly, twisting him. He would have fallen under the pier, but he grabbed the staff and swung himself back up.

"Not bad, Chuckles," he complimented Robin, sounding impressed. "Just not good enough."

Robin, not in the mood for banter, struck out at Red X. His hand was blocked three times before he got a good hit in, and then Red X struck at his stomach. Robin doubled over and slipped off the staff. He hung on by his fingers, preparing to swing around, but Red X knocked his fingers aside with his foot. Robin fell into the water with a splash.

"Robin!" Starfire shouted, peering into the hole as Cyborg shot a blast from his sonic cannon at the criminal over the concerned alien girl's head.

"I'm fine! Get him!" Robin shouted after resurfacing

Red X threw an x-shaped device at Cyborg, which stuck to his canon. Cyborg narrowed his eyes and blasted a shot at him, which caused the device to explode. Sticky red gunk flew everywhere, including on his other teammates. Red X avoided the spray by spinning Robin's bo-staff in a circle. Raven threw her cloak over herself, and while it was coated with the gross red stuff, she was fine.

In the distraction, Red X grabbed the box of xynothium and started to make his escape.

"Cyborg!" You are undamaged?" Starfire asked while she melted the red substance off of her feet with a starbolt.

Cyborg's arm was dripping with red gunk. "Man, it's all up in my circuits! It'll take hours to clean this stuff out! I can't shoot my cannon out of this arm and I don't have my other one equipped," he explained. "You okay, BB?"

"Nice going, ya big trash can! I'm stuck! AGAIN!" Beast Boy shouted in frustration. He changed into a dinosaur in an attempt to pull himself away from the goo, but he only succeeded in making himself more stuck and he changed back to his human form.

"Let's go, Starfire!" Raven shouted as she took to the air. "He's got the box!"

Starfire lifted herself into the air, a trail of half-melted goo sticking from her foot to the ground, arresting her flight before she got more than a few feet off the ground. She shot a starbolt at it and the problem disappeared.

Raven was in the process of throwing a tree to the ground with black energy. Red X flipped neatly over it. Raven grabbed the box away from him with a quick chant of her mantras. Red X skidded to a halt and turned back in here.

"I've got just what you need," he announced as he let another x-shaped mechanism fly through the air. It fastened itself around her mouth.

Raven let out a muffled noise. Red X slid past her, lunging for the box. Once he had it in his arms again, He took off. Raven pulled in vain at the covering over her mouth. Starfire landed in front of her. "Raven, can I-?"

Raven waved her off toward Red X.

Starfire took off, angry. The last time they met, he didn't have anything to stop her eyebeams. He might now, but she wasn't counting on it. She didn't have that ability when Robin made the suit. She would show him for taking them all down so easily.

Red X was ahead of her and running fast, but she could fly faster than a person could run. She strained herself, jetting ahead of him and landing easily in front of him.

"I command you to stop!" she shouted angrily.

"Aw. You're mad," he said with a smirk. "It's nothing I can't make up to you later. In fact, I'm free later tonigh-"

He stopped talking when Starfire shot a jet of green at him from her eyes. He turned, absorbing the impact with his back. He hit the ground and rolled in a way that had to hurt his sore back. "Listen, Princess, I know that you're not stupid. In fact, you're almost as smart as you are hot. So I'm gonna say this once, and I'm not gonna repeat myself: no shooting at Red X when he's carrying xynothium. Understand?"

Starfire shot at him again. He tucked the box behind him and braced himself, taking most of the shot in his forearm. Starfire was frustrated. He would have been taken care of already if her starbolts weren't so weak.

"Somebody's been a real bad girl," he muttered. He threw another contraption at her, which she was expecting and was able to dodge. However, dodging didn't prove to do much good for her. The device exploded red smoke on impact with the ground. She coughed and lit a starbolt, which reflected off the hazy red fog and blinded her. Starfire shook her head, tears welling in her eyes as the gas stung at her, and flew up.

She had to go up almost thirty feet to get completely clear of the gas. She was able to spot Red X, box in his arms, running into the slummy section of the city.

Starfire had never been here alone, and this was the kind of place that she could remember in her earliest memories being warned not to go to into. Of course, her father was saying that to her as a little girl and princess, and she was neither anymore.

She took off after him. He glanced over his shoulder at her and headed into an alley. It was dark, the already grey sky darkening with the first hints of night, and she felt uncomfortable. Why would he duck into an alley? Did he think she couldn't see him? Was it a set up?

Either way, she would have to go after him. He was standing on a dumpster, his face level with a window on the second floor, thrusting his hand through an open window, too narrow for him to fit through but with enough room for the box. Starfire yanked him away. "What do you think you are doing?" she demanded angrily.

He smiled at her. "I was wondering when you would catch up."

Starfire frowned. She held his jumpsuit at the throat, his hand over hers to keep some leverage. He should be intimidated. "Catch up? Is your goal not to escape with the xynothium?"

"Escape?" he echoed, confused. His expression seemed to fall, although it was hard to tell with the mask. "Oh, come on."

"Stop that," she snapped, irritated.

"You must know that it's me," he said, taking his hand off hers.

"I do not-"

"Starfire," Red X began, the tone sounding so familiar to her that she stopped and looked at him closely. "It's _me_."

Starfire let him go and backed up so that her shoulders were against the opposite wall. "R-Robin?"

"I _knew_ that you would know," he said triumphantly, grinning at her.

"I do not know what you are-"

"Go ahead," he said urgently, nodding his head urgently, closing the space between them in a few steps. He put his hands on the wall next to her hips. "Take the mask off."

Starfire silently raised her arm and plucked the mask off his head. She could feel his hair slipping through the material under her fingers and she made sure she didn't pull it.

It was true. The pointed, white-eyed domino mask sat over his eyes and his spiked hair assumed its trained position when the mask was fully off.

Anger surged through her. "Why have you done this?" Starfire demanded. She threw the mask on the floor. "Why have you lied to us, your friends? You _promised_ that you would stop being the Red X!"

"Starfire, please," Robin begged, losing the cocky attitude quickly. "I can explain it. If you just listen-"

"I am not prepared to listen to you. I only feel anger and disappointment!" Tears welled in the alien princess's eyes.

"You're taking it personally," Robin observed.

Starfire charged starbolts in her hands. She wasn't going to throw them, of course, but it felt good to let the fury out at least a little. Robin didn't back away from her. "Of course I am! You lied to me! You don't trust me!"

"I _do_ trust you, Starfire. I trust you more than anyone else." He caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger. "I told you now, didn't I?"

She blinked and tears fell down her cheeks. She felt so betrayed. She was already unsure of him, of what he thought of her, or if he thought of her at all. This was taking that problem to a whole new level. "Why have you kept this secret? Why are you doing this?"

Robin released her chin after a moment. He turned away, the tattered cape blowing in the wind behind him. "It's hard to explain."

Starfire wiped at her eyes, angry with herself for crying. "You must explain it to me, Robin. And then you must explain it to our friends."

He wheeled back to face her, his features a hardened mask of fury. Starfire gaped at him, but even without seeming to move, he looked calm again, if a little sad. "You can't tell them."

"_You _will not," she said coldly. "And someone must."

"You have to give me time," Robin said, leaning on the wall next to her and putting his foot flat against it.

"The longer you wait, the angrier our friends will be when they find out that you have been the Red X this whole time," Starfire pointed out.

"I know," Robin said. "But I'm going to have to risk it. Because once I tell them, I'm going to have to promise to stop. And I can't do that yet."

Starfire widened her eyes at him. "You think that I am going to let you-?"

"I need _help_." The intensity in his voice was startling, and she dropped the question to look at him worriedly. "And I think you can give me the help I need. Only you. Over time. Do you understand?" He took her hand gently, lacing their fingers together, never breaking eye contact.

Starfire felt herself heat up and hoped that it was too dark for him to see her blush. "You require companionship?"

"I need you to help me… figure myself out. I need to see every point of view, Star. Since I was young, my… I've been trained to fight for good. All I'm doing is trying to understand the villains. Why they _do_ what they _do_. How they feel. Get inside their minds!" He punched one hand passionately into the palm of the other.

Starfire stared at him. "Surely you can do that without _becoming_ a villain?"

The flash of anger across his features, then the seamless and instant calm. "I'm not a villain. I need you to know that. I'm experiencing it. If I experience it, I'll understand it and be able to stop it."

"I wish you had not told me. It is a burden," Starfire murmured, looking at her feet. She couldn't look at him while she said it.

Robin tentatively reached his hand out and touched her cheek. Starfire put her hand on his wrist, but she didn't push him away. "It _is_ a burden. And I thought I could do it alone. But I need help. I need you," he said softly.

She felt torn. She wanted to be angry with him, but she found that she couldn't be. She understood what he was saying, she was just angry that he felt that he had to do this. But she couldn't be angry with him for _feeling_ a certain way. That was insensitive. She wanted to lean against him and wrap her arms around him and talk him out of this. But she shook herself and backed away from him.

"How are you being in two places at once?" she demanded quickly.

"What?"

"How are you Robin and the Red X at the same time?" she asked angrily. She was back to feeling tricked.

"Oh." He smirked in a way that ordinarily Starfire found kind of cute, but now she just found annoying. "Technology."

"But I have done the poking and searched for projectors that could emit a hologram…"

"Advanced technology."

Starfire narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't like not knowing. Why would he tell her that he was Red X and not explain his technology? She sighed. She was just being difficult.

"Look, some of it's holograms, some of it's robotics… I can't explain every trick to you."

"Could you show me? Back at the Tower?"

He shook his head. "You can't talk to me about this at the Tower."

"What? Robin, that is not fair. You must allow me to express my-"

He gripped her fingers gently for emphasis. "You don't understand. You have to- _I _have to keep it separate. You're worried about me crossing sides? That's the way to do it." His voice was deep and serious and stern.

"What do you mean?" Starfire asked.

"Making me think like Red X while I'm Robin. I can't. That's what the problem was the first time. I can't do it again, Star. I almost lost you. All of you. Promise me you won't mention Red X at the Tower." His grip on her fingers was tight now.

She wanted to draw her hand back. She was almost frightened. But she had to press on. "What about those days when you keep to yourself in the room of examining and research, looking to find out who Red X is?"

He released his grip on her fingers. "That's when I make a lot of the tech. Look, I know that it's hard, but Starfire… I trusted you to trust me. I really need you right now."

Starfire bit her lip. She was feeling guilty and unsure. Robin raised his hand and ran his thumb over her lower lip, gently removing it from under her teeth. Their faces were so close. She could feel him leaning closer to her. She had been waiting for this. Their first kiss. She saw it happen in distracted daydreams and planned adventures of it in dreams in the privacy of her bed.

But it was never like this. In an alley, in the dark, hidden, feeling so… wrong. While she was still so upset and confused. Starfire ducked to the side. Robin straightened out almost imperceptibly, making it look like he was always that way.

"I know it's hard. But I just need time."

"Robin…"

"Starfire? Ya down here?" Cyborg's voice washed over them.

Robin pressed a finger to his lips, motioning for her to be quiet. He pressed a button on the silver utility belt and the Red X suit retracted into it, revealing his standard uniform. He leaped away from her silently, melding into the shadows.

"Cyborg?" Starfire called shakily. "It is I! I… require assistance."

Cyborg appeared, looking down at her from the top of the building she had been leaning against, his red eye glowing in a way that would be eerie, but was only comforting to Starfire. "What's a matter? You hurt?"

"No. I am just… badly shaken."

**Well, not a bad start, right? Fun fact: I originally intended for this to be a oneshot! Have a teaser for the next chapter: **

He turned to her, leaning his shoulder and his temple against the wall. And then he really did reach out and tuck her hair behind her ear like in movies, and then he looked at her, and she saw his eyes drop down to her lips, and suddenly she felt dizzy, because he was going to kiss her…

**Unresolved sexual tension, a requirement for all RobStar fics. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for all the reviews I got for the first chapter. And even one favorite! You guys rock!**

"I am sorry," Starfire finished. Cyborg and Beast Boy, both covered with a film of dark red gunk with the consistency of old chewing gum that had been left in the sun for a few hours, looked miserable by the time Starfire finished explaining that Red X had gotten away with the xynothium.

Well, she had explained most of it. She left out the fact that Red X was actually Robin. She wasn't planning on leaving it out originally. She meant to include it. Rat him out. Sure, he would be mad at her and the rest of the team would be mad at him, but he needed help and they could give it to him. But when it came time to say it, the words stayed thick on her tongue.

"That's okay, Star. That creep always kicks our butts. We better go find Rob and tell him the news." Cyborg sighed. "He's gonna beat himself up about this worse than any of us."

Starfire felt her heart sink. He would fly into a rage, or a melancholy, and he would hole himself up in his room or the research room for days. And then she remembered the truth and she felt angry. What was he really doing if he wasn't sulking?

Raven was standing with her arms crossed, looking pissed. The method Red X used to dispatch her was humiliating- and it hurts to take it off.

"Is Robin okay? I thought he would'a caught up with us by now," Beast Boy said.

Starfire almost rolled her eyes. She knew that Robin was fine.

"I guess we'd better go fish him out of the Pacific," Cyborg answered, turning back to the docks.

Beast Boy shook his head violently. "Man, I think I even got this crud in my _ears_!"

Cyborg sighed. "It's going to take me days to get all this stuff out of my armor. Next time we see X, I'm gonna pay him back. With interest."

"I'll back you up on that, dude!" Beast Boy chirped in a voice that sounded much more cheerful than Starfire thought he actually was. Nothing kept Beast Boy down for long.

"You okay, Star?" Cyborg asked after a second of silence. "You're being quiet."

She looked up at him guiltily. Her bad mood shouldn't affect the others. "Yes, of course, Cyborg. I was just…" she paused. She couldn't come up with a lie quick enough. She didn't have enough practice.

"Listen, don't beat yourself up for losing Red X. We'll get him next time! Robin will understand. We all messed up; him too," Beast Boy reminded her, trying to cheer her up.

She glanced at the ground to hide her frown. Beast Boy didn't know just how much Robin had messed up. She looked back at him and forced herself to smile. "You are right. And I believe we are due for another movie night?" She had no idea if this was true or not- they usually tried to do movies on Fridays, but they had to reschedule and she couldn't remember if they'd actually watched Friday's movie.

Raven made an indignant sound next to Starfire that sounded like a muffled "Don't!" Raven didn't like movie night very much, but she always participated. She wouldn't ditch all of them just because she didn't like the genre of movie.

"Oh yeah! You're right! And it's not too late. We can catch a movie when we get back home!" Beast Boy smiled widely and excitedly.

"I don't know, Green Genes. I have to get this muck out of my circuits…" Cyborg started.

Beast Boy interrupted him. "You won't be able to get it out until it dries more! Then it'll chip off slowly. It sucks, but you're gonna hafta wait anyway. Kill time with a movie, Rusthead!"

Cyborg looked like he was trying to hold back a smile. "Fine. You get your way. But if I scratch my armor because this junk is rock solid when it dries, it's on you, squirt."

Beast Boy's smile got even wider.

Raven made another noise and pointed ahead of them. Robin was soaked, standing on the boards of the dock, talking to a muscley man who could have passed for a thug or a gang leader, but was dressed in crisp white pants, boots, and a striped shirt.

The four Titans approached him in time to hear the last bit of conversation. "No, not for a couple of weeks," the man was saying. "We'll let you know."

"Thanks," Robin said, sounding grim. He turned back to his teammates, and with a glance at them he already knew the results. "No luck, huh?"

"No," Cyborg answered sullenly. "What was that about?"

"I just asked the ship's captain when the next shipment of xynothium was coming in. He said not for another few weeks. That way, we can be on top of him. Be ready when he attacks." Robin ran a hand through his hair. "Everybody okay?"

"I'm good. Hopefully my joints don't close up, but…" Cyborg let his voice trail off.

"Long as Star doesn't butcher my hair, I'll be fine," Beast Boy answered, poking his un-gunked elbow into Starfire's side.

Raven sighed and nodded.

"Star?" Robin asked after she didn't say anything in the gap of silence that was meant to be filled with her own confirmation. "Everything good?" He looked concerned.

She smiled, and she didn't have to force this one. He _did_ care about her. "I am fine, Robin." _No thanks to you_, she had a strong desire to add. She kept it in, though.

"Are you sure you're-?"

"Yeah, yeah, Rob, everyone's hunky-dory. The point is, let's go back to the tower, get washed up, sit back on the couch and have a Super Ninja Fury marathon!" Beast Boy interrupted impatiently.

Robin looked from Beast Boy to Starfire, unsure.

"I thought the Super Ninja was a figure in the video games?" Starfire asked conversationally, so that Robin couldn't ask her any more questions.

Beast Boy gave her an almost loving smile, happy that she was taking interest, and his eyes shone with passion. "Well, originally Super Ninja Fury was a video game franchise, but after the fourth video game came out, they started making movies. There're already two out."

"Two already?" Cyborg asked, sounding surprised. "The fourth game came out, like, six months ago."

"Yeah, well… They started _filming_ the first SNF movie before the fourth game came out… and well, they went right to DVD."

"Oh. Great," Cyborg said with a roll of his eyes.

"Hey! Take it from someone who _knows_ show business- just because a movie doesn't get its time in the box-office doesn't mean it isn't good!" Beast Boy changed into a Pterodactyl, signifying the end of the conversation.

"Just cuz _your_ movies didn't go to theatres, either…" Cyborg grumbled, allowing Beast Boy to grab onto his shoulders and take off.

Raven shook her head and pressed her hand to her forehead like she had a headache before taking off after them.

"You had to bring it up," Robin teased her, his voice sounding like a reprimand but the smile on his face making it clear he was joking.

Starfire just looked at him, trying not to let the hurt or confusion seep out onto her features. She wasn't mad at him, not really, but she just didn't trust him so much right now. And that hurt.

"Are you sure everything's okay?" He raised his hand like he was going to do something- touch her cheek or tuck her hair behind her ear like they do on movies, but he changed its course and raked his fingers through his hair at the last second.

"Yes. Let us go, Robin." He looked confused. He must think she didn't want to talk to him. Of course, she didn't. But she didn't want to be callous or mean. She added, "You must want to change out of your wet clothes."

"Yeah," he muttered. "I do."

Starfire and Cyborg stood over Beast Boy and Raven, respectively, who were each sitting on stools in the kitchenette. Cyborg was facing Raven, and Starfire had her front to Beast Boy's back, holding scissors in her right hand. Beast Boy was making her nervous, flinching every time she cut away the gunk.

"I have avoided cutting your hair!" she reminded him nervously as he flinched again. "I am simply cutting out the sticky material!"

"Yeah, yeah… Just be careful. I _like_ my current 'do. I was even thinking of growing it out. You know, girls go nuts for that Justin Beiber look…"

"He cut his hair," Starfire said absently as she snipped around a hardening red fleck.

"That's not the point," Beast Boy told her hurriedly, sounding afraid that she would take this as permission to continue snipping away at his hair.

"Chill, B. You wouldn't want hair like Justin Beiber's, anyway. You'd have to regress in puberty to get the full look." Cyborg smiled at his own joke, but Beast Boy for once wasn't in the mood.

Raven made an impatient noise.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, Raven. This is polymerized anti-stick spray, and it's _supposed _to be non-toxic, but you know how it is at S.T.A.R. labs. Just don't breathe in too deep or anything, okay?" Cyborg misted a spray from a small spray bottle over Raven's mouth. "We should start traveling with this," he mused out loud.

Cyborg lowered his face close to Raven's, examining the edges of the tape to see if they curved away from her face. They hadn't. "Okay, I don't know if it worked. It doesn't say on here to let it sit or anything." He picked up the spray bottle and looked it over, checking for directions. "I'm gonna do it quick, like a band-aid. On three. One… Two…" And he ripped it off.

There was an x-shaped red mark stretching from cheek to cheek. Raven rubbed her face with her fingers and glared at Cyborg. "_That_ wasn't three. It wasn't as bad as the first time, though."

"There you are, friend," Starfire sang happily as she put the scissors on the counter.

"Phew!" Beast Boy exclaimed as he ran his hands through his hair. "Not bad, Star. Anyway, soon as Robin gets here, we'll start the-"

"I never said I was staying for the movie." Robin's voice came sternly from the doorway.

"Aw, come on, dude! You gotta! We're so behind on movie nights!" Beast Boy pleaded.

Robin glanced at Starfire, who was keeping her expression carefully neutral. "I don't know," he said to Beast Boy. "I should really be doing more research. Obviously, we need to gain an upper hand over Red X somehow."

Beast Boy looked pleasingly at Starfire, his face somehow whiny.

"You should stay for the viewing of the film," Starfire told him. She meant it. She did want him to stay. He hurt her feelings- shocked her in a way that she didn't think he could. And even though he was the one who hurt her, she only knew how to go to him for comfort. Suddenly she needed to be near him. Even if he couldn't give her any good explanations as to why he was lying to her- lying to everyone- and committing crimes, she just wanted to talk to him about normal things, because he made her feel like she had no problems at all.

He looked at her, and it occurred to her that she might have these thoughts written all over her face, because very softly he said, "Okay. I'll stay."

"Yes!" Beast Boy shouted, punching his fist into the air. "Let's fire it up!" He put the DVDs in his mouth and changed into a cocker spaniel, scampering in an undeniably adorable way over the furniture to the television. He changed back, crouching in front of the DVD player, spit the movies out of his mouth, and popped the first disc in. He leaped back onto the couch, directly in the middle for the best viewing opportunity.

Cyborg sat on his left, and Raven sat on the far left of the couch. Starfire settled herself a few feet away from Beast Boy on his right, and Robin sat next to her.

He didn't put his arm around her or anything, but they were sitting so close that their elbows were touching. She let herself lean into him as the movie progressed and their shoulders brushed. She didn't feel nervous or overly excited like she sometimes did when she was around him. She felt comforted. She imagined laying her head on his shoulder and falling asleep like that. After that, she straightened herself out again so that their elbows only occasionally touched.

After the first movie finished, Beast Boy moved to put the second DVD in, and Starfire got up quickly.

"What's the matter Star?" Beast Boy asked, sounding hurt. "I _said_ we were going to have a marathon!"

Starfire stretched out her arms and yawned to make her point. "I know, Beast Boy, but I truly am very tired."

Beast Boy frowned at her, but she ignored him and went to the door.

"Actually, Beast Boy," she heard Robin say, "I'm getting kind of tired too."

"Aw! Robin! You guys are gonna stay right?" Beast Boy appealed to Raven and Cyborg.

Suddenly nervous at the prospect of being alone in the dark hallway with Robin, Starfire stepped through the door and hovered down the hallway, since she could go faster flying than she could walking. But it didn't end up mattering.

"Starfire!"

She sighed and touched down to the floor. "What is it, Robin?" she asked sweetly.

"I was just… Can I… Can I walk you to your room?" he asked quietly.

An explosion of emotions went off in her head and stomach, making her kind of dizzy. "Of course," she answered.

This was so weird. Things had never been this strained between them. He must know that he upset her. And he was making up for it by being so sweet. But she wasn't sure that it was enough.

"Star," he said when he caught up to her, "talk to me."

She turned her back to him, squeezing her elbows. He told her not to talk about Red X to him here, but she couldn't help it. She turned back to him and the words tumbled over each other, her tongue struggling to keep with them. "Robin, when you were Red X the first time, you did it to gain Slade's trust. I understand that. But why could you not tell us, your friends?" She tried to talk to him about it only once before. And she ended up telling him that he was just like Slade. She felt bad about it, and sometimes she wondered how true it was, but she never apologized for it. Whenever she thought about saying something about it, she remembered that he never apologized to any of them for being Red X in the first place. That didn't necessarily mean that he wasn't sorry, but it would have been nice to hear. That thought kept her from apologizing- he never said anything about it, even directly after she said it.

He stopped. He didn't say anything at all- he just looked at her with an unreadable expression. "You've been thinking about that a lot."

She didn't answer him. She felt like she was about to cry, which was ridiculous. She still felt like he was betraying her. And she didn't know if he was sorry for it.

"I needed it to be authentic," he answered. He sounded so cold and calculating. It made Starfire feel less like crying and more like she'd made a terrible mistake. A mistake in asking him the stupid question in the first place, a mistake in even liking him as much as she did. But it also made her pity him, because he didn't seem to realize just how cold it made him seem.

"Robin…" she said, stepping toward him and reaching out. She was going to put her hand on his shoulder or hug him or do something- anything- to let him that she was there for him. That she always would be.

He ducked away from her hand and continued walking. "I knew that you wouldn't be able to fight me." He paused, considering his words. "I mean, you guys are capable. But you would have held back."

Starfire started walking behind him, catching up in a few strides. "But you did not _know _that. You just assumed that you could not trust us-"

And he whirled around to face her, so quickly that his cape got disheveled around his shoulders and she almost banged into his elbow. "It wasn't that I didn't trust you, Starfire. It was that I know that I can always trust you." His voice came surprisingly even, considering his violent burst of action.

She shook her head. "I do not understand," she whispered, shocked by his intensity.

"Even when I was attacking you guys, dressing like Slade and committing crimes, you knew. You knew that I was still me," he said, his words thick with feeling, so thick that they hung heavily in the air. She could almost feel the weight of them pressing against her. Starfire sensed that you in this case meant her, not the entire team.

Her eyes welled up with tears. It was like he slapped her. She felt as though he was calling her out on her mistrust by telling her that her faith was unwavering. "That is not true," she corrected him, her voice coming out small at first, but stronger as she forced it out. "There was a time when I truly thought you might have devoted yourself to Slade and criminal acts, Robin."

"I heard you calling me." He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms in front of his chest. It was like he was letting down his emotional guard, so he had to put up a physical barrier.

"What?"

"On the communicator. I couldn't answer. Slade wouldn't let me. But I heard you. For hours. Until my T-comm died." He watched her, preparing for a denial or correction.

She bowed her head as the memory washed over her.

"And you didn't attack me," he reminded her.

"When? On the rooftop? When you stole the heat gun?" Starfire squinted. "No. I must have."

"You wouldn't. That was the first time Slade activated the nanobots." His voice urged her to remember.

"But… I… I thought _you_ would attack _me_."

"I know, but that proves it even more. You thought I would hurt you and you still wouldn't attack. You didn't even defend yourself. That's why I couldn't tell you that I was Red X. You trust me too much."

Starfire glared at him. She supposed that did prove his point, but it would have been different if she knew she had to convince someone else that he was evil. She grasped for something to hurt him. "Slade knew. Before any of us. But we should not have been that surprised." Saying it felt good. She felt like she was armed now. They were on level ground.

Robin narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you mean?"

"You saved Beast Boy. That must have been how he knew, Robin." She felt guilty for pointing it out. But he must have thought about it since then and come to the same solution.

"So I should have just let him die?" he asked, suddenly angry.

"Of course not. But if you told us in the first place that you would be masquerading as Red X, then we would not have taken such risks in order to subdue you, and Beast Boy would not have fallen onto the track."

He looked stricken. Maybe he hadn't thought about it.

"Look, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings by not telling you. I'm paying for it now. I'm paying for it with that stupid suit and I know that I'm still paying for it because you guys don't trust me. But I'm not keeping secrets from you anymore."

Starfire sank into the wall next to him, suddenly exhausted. "No. I know you aren't."

He turned to her, leaning his shoulder and his temple against the wall. And then he really did reach out and tuck her hair behind her ear like in movies, and then he looked at her, and she saw his eyes drop down to her lips, and suddenly she felt dizzy, because he was going to kiss her…

He straightened again and his gaze snapped up to her eyes. He cleared his throat in a way that seemed to change the subject. "I'm going to train with Bushido in a few days."

Starfire blinked, pulling herself out of a weird daze that left her confused and almost sleepy. "What?" she asked, still half dazed.

"I'll be gone for a little while. I'm leaving on Thursday."

"But… but that is soon!" She wasn't feeling very eloquent just now.

"Yeah. I won't be around. I'll be in Japan." At least he wasn't being as articulate as usual, either.

"Robin?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't see what this has to do with…" she let her voice trail off because she knew saying it out loud would make him annoyingly uncomfortable, but also because she would have said something stupid, like 'kissing FINALLY'. Or anything to that effect.

Robin blushed. It was dark, but she was so close to him she could almost feel the heat radiating off his face. "Nothing. I mean, it's just, I'd rather wait. Until I don't have to go to Japan."

"Oh," Starfire said dully. Then, because she didn't want to sound too disappointed, she added, "That seems like a wise decision."

"Okay."

Okay? Was she supposed to have insisted on kissing for the first time (the second time) right then and there? Like she couldn't wait another second? She wouldn't. She had her dignity. But she didn't know what else to say. "Good night, Robin."

There was a pause, and then he forced himself away from the wall with a jerky shove. "Good night, Star," he murmured back.

She let herself linger there for a second, then she made her way across the hall to her room. When the door was shut behind her, she let out a sigh that was so loud and forceful that Silkie turned from the foot of her bed to give her an annoyed glare.

She sat on the edge of her bed, trying to work out exactly how she'd gone from being angry and sad to so happy, albeit unfulfilled, in one conversation. Thinking about it only made her sleepy, so she curled up under the covers and tried not to think that it was a little bit embarrassing to be so happy over an almost-kiss.

**Sorry about the Beiber-bashing. No offense to beliebers (beleibers? I don't even…) or anything. But from my experience, teenage guys can have a fifteen minute long conversation about nothing more than how much Justin Bieber sucks. So there you go.**

"Star?" she heard over the whooshing of the doors a few seconds later.

She stopped and did her best to look unsuspecting. "Yes, friend? Is there anything you require of me?"

Robin smiled at her. "Nah. I just wanted to say goodbye."

"Oh. I would rather not."

"What?" He sounded confused and a little hurt.

"On my planet, we do not say goodbye unless our loved one is going to war, or is making the great journey to the bosom of X'hal," she explained patiently.

Robin's face relaxed into a look of fondness and understanding. "Oh. Then what do you say when you're going to be separated for a short time?"

"We say, 'Ibgrr verlok nes dorf makann.' You will be in my dearest thoughts. It is similar to the saying 'Bon Voyage'? It's not really as often said as 'goodbye', but it's a sweet thing to say," she explained, always happy to talk about Tamaran.

"Cool. Then, ib… Um, what you said." He shot her an apologetic smile for not getting the phrase right.

"Robin. You will be in my dearest thoughts while you are gone. I wish you well," Starfire said surprised at the emotion that slipped into the sentiment.

He noticed it too. Something flitted across his face. She couldn't tell for sure what it was. She was wishing, with a surprising, aching intensity, that he wasn't going. Maybe that was what he was feeling, too.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys! Sorry about the lack of any kind of author's note in the last chapter. I uploaded the file onto my account, thinking I could just edit it later. I actually updated this on my phone, and apparently, at least on my phone, you can't edit documents in the manager. Weird. There were a couple typos in the last chapter, so I'm going to go back and look it over and fix some stuff and add an author's note, so check it out. **

The next few days were uneventful for Starfire.

The Titans didn't get action every single day. There were plenty of days where they would get to hang out in the park, or go to the mall, or hang out in the Tower.

A normal person would see the calmness of the past couple of days and realize that this is the perfect time to take a trip.

Robin, however, was frantic, pacing in front of the monitor in the ops room. Cyborg was sitting in a chair in front of him. Robin was insistent that this was some sort of calm before a storm.

He stopped pacing to look over Cyborg's shoulder. "What about Dr. Light?"

Cyborg exhaled shortly and violently. "You think we can't handle Dr. Light with you gone? That's downright insulting. He's in Jump City Prison, mid-security."

Robin tapped his foot thoughtfully before continuing his pacing. "What about Mad Maud?"

Cyborg shook his head. "Expedited."

"Of course. What about the Five?"

"H.I.V.E. Five? I don't know. None of them are incarcerated in any way right now," Cyborg answered, tapping at the keyboard and frowning, "but they've been quiet since Jinx joined our side."

Robin nodded. "Just keep an eye on them."

Cyborg grunted. "Flasher and Jinx can stick them in the slammer before we can even get downtown. But whatever makes you happy, Rob."

"You have forgotten Red X, friends."

The boys turned to the door directly behind them. "Hey Star," Cyborg greeted her while Robin just frowned. At least he stopped pacing.

Starfire locked eyes with him, her look disapproving and his stern, before coming to stand behind Cyborg and look over his shoulder.

"What about Control Freak?" Robin continued.

"They put a TV in his cell. He hasn't even attempted to break out yet," Cyborg answered with a smile.

"You seem unconcerned about Red X," Starfire pointed out. "You cannot know that he will remain inactive," she said innocently.

He shot her an annoyed look. "With my luck, you guys'll have a better chance of subduing him with me gone," Robin muttered.

"Aw, Robin, don't be so hard on yourself. He kicked your butt, so what?" Cyborg was completely oblivious to anything occurring between Robin and Starfire. "It's not like you made it easy on us."

"Yeah," Robin said tightly. "What about Killer Moth and Kitten?"

Starfire sighed. Robin would never tell the rest of the team. Although this was probably a bad time anyway. It wasn't like he could say, 'Okay, guys, I'm Red X. No time to talk about it now, but I'll talk to you in a week when I get back from Japan.'

"Killer Moth is in a high-security, underground cell in JCP. Kitten is in juvy with her nasty boyfriend.

Robin nodded. "I think that's everyone."

"Yeah. And I'll keep you updated about gang activity…"

Having very little interest in their conversation, Starfire turned to leave them to it and busy herself by painting her nails. She only recently discovered this Earth custom, and she was beginning to get good at it. Raven was shocked when Starfire mentioned that she got almost no nail polish in her hair last time she tried it, so she must be improving quickly.

"Okay, Cy, I think that's good," she heard Robin say abruptly.

"Aw. You just wanna go kiss your girlfriend goodbye before you leave, don'tcha?" Cyborg teased.

Robin waited until she crossed through the doorway until he answered. She wouldn't have heard if she didn't stop and press herself against the door to listen. "She's _not _my… I mean we're not… Whatever."

Starfire smiled to herself and leaped away from the door to make it look like she hadn't stopped walking.

"Star?" she heard over the whooshing of the doors a few seconds later.

She stopped and did her best to look unsuspecting. "Yes, friend? Is there anything you require of me?"

Robin smiled at her. "Nah. I just wanted to say goodbye."

"Oh. I would rather not."

"What?" He sounded confused and a little hurt.

"On my planet, we do not say goodbye unless our loved one is going to war, or is making the great journey to the bosom of X'hal," she explained patiently.

Robin's face relaxed into a look of fondness and understanding. "Oh. Then what do you say when you're going to be separated for a short time?"

"We say, 'Ibgrr verlok nes dorf makann.' You will be in my dearest thoughts. It is similar to the saying 'Bon Voyage'? It's not really as often said as 'goodbye', but it's a sweet thing to say," she explained, always happy to talk about Tamaran.

"Cool. Then, ib… Um, what you said." He shot her an apologetic smile for not getting the phrase right.

"Robin. You will be in my dearest thoughts while you are gone. I wish you well," Starfire said surprised at the emotion that slipped into the sentiment.

He noticed it too. Something flitted across his face. She couldn't tell for sure what it was. She was wishing, with a surprising, aching intensity, that he wasn't going. Maybe that was what he was feeling, too. He didn't say anything, but he reached up to scratch at the back of his neck.

When he didn't say anything, she panicked. The silence between them wasn't one of their comfortable, friendly silences. It was bigger somehow, if not in length than in intensity. She blurted out, "I will miss you."

He tipped his head to the side, as though people didn't say 'I'll miss you' to other people all the time. "What do you mean?" he asked

She tipped her head to the side, matching his confused expression. She squinted at him. "Nothing! Just that you will be gone and I will be… I will be here. And you will not. And it will not escape my attention. Is something the matter?"

He shook his head, snapping out of his confused posture and looking a little embarrassed. "No. It's just that, I mean… Nobody's ever…" he mumbled the rest unintelligibly, but Starfire knew what he was going to say anyway.

She stepped forward and hugged him, leaning her head on his shoulder. He tensed up in her arms, like he was surprised that she was suddenly there. After a second, he put his hands awkwardly on her back, not squeezing her at all like a real hug. It was more like he was letting her hug him than it was like he was hugging her. Often times, he didn't even do that and he let his hands stay limply at his sides.

After she considered enough time to have passed, she disentangled herself from him. There is a tiny space in a hug when both people are mostly free of each other, and all that connects them is fingertips on shoulders or on waists or around necks. It isn't a very long time, and usually by this time people are already stepping away from each other. It was in this space of time that is so tiny that if it were a thing, it would be no bigger than the width of a pencil or a pinky finger, that Starfire messed up.

She didn't even realize she was doing it until it was done. It wasn't forceful or long or extraordinary in any way except that it was between the two of them. She brushed her lips softly over his cheek.

She didn't know what compelled her to do it. It wasn't even a custom observed on Tamaran. She'd really only seen people do it on TV or in movies, or sometimes outside. It just seemed to fit.

When she stepped away from him fully, she felt herself staring at him. Her eyes felt huge on her face, like they swelled to the size of dinner plates, or volleyballs, or boulders, or moons, and she couldn't tear them away from Robin's face or even blink.

Dark red colored his cheeks, and she fantasized about doing it again, right over the spot where the color was the darkest. His mouth hung open, like he was planning on saying something but his body was moving faster than his brain and the words were stuck in his head, and he didn't seem to be able to move.

She cleared her throat and said something about feeding Silkie before hovering in the air an taking off at full speed for her room. She flew like something was chasing her. She flew like if she went fast enough, she could leave the moment there.

She closed and locked her door behind her, both hoping and fearing that Robin would knock on it, telling her that it was okay.

He didn't.

In fact, she didn't even come out of her room for two hours, during which she painted her nails a neon green color, surfed the web (mostly accomplished by typing in questions like, 'How long does it take to get from California to Japan?' and clicking on related links), and rearranged all the items in her closet (fifteen uniforms, Tamaranean armor, two headpieces, her wedding dress, and a few articles of civilian clothing).

When she finally emerged, Robin was gone. It was around one, but she hadn't eaten anything since some fruit at nine. She went into the ops room, where Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing their favorite video game- Speed Racerz- and they were arguing over who was winning. She personally couldn't understand why they continued to play video games if it was the source of so many arguments, but she gave up suggesting that they stop a while ago.

She grabbed an old slice of pizza from the fridge and ate it without a plate, holding a hand under her chin to catch crumbs. She turned to go back to her room, feeling lonelier than before. She glanced back at the two boys on the couch, considering asking to watch them, or even join in- but she decided against it.

Starfire stuffed the rest of the crust in her mouth as a door slid open, startling her slightly. Raven stood in the doorway, looking at Starfire expectantly.

After an uncomfortable silence, Starfire swallowed a hunk of crust that almost stuck in her throat and coughed out, "Raven? Do you seek company?"

Raven blinked slowly and deliberately, almost as if she was saying, _"What am I doing here?"_ After a second, she answered, "No. I… I sensed you out here. Is… is everything okay?"

Starfire considered her friend for a moment. She looked almost reluctant. Starfire guessed that Raven didn't really want to talk about feelings or how their days went. As much as she wanted to talk, Starfire didn't want to make Raven listen to her sob story. She wasn't even sure she wanted to share the intimacy- or lack of intimacy- of her relationship with Robin. "No," Starfire replied after a short silence.

Raven shifted her weight uncomfortably. "Are you sure?"

Starfire broke out in a smile. She felt a rush of gratitude toward Raven for trying, however forced, to reach out. She lunged forward and crushed Raven to her chest. "Thank you, friend. I prefer not to talk about my temperament today, but I am glad that you are concerned for me, and urge you not to worry." Starfire stepped back and Raven clung to the doorframe, sucking in a breath.

"No problem, Starfire," she assured her in a thin voice.

Starfire paused. She felt as though she should say more, but didn't know what. She didn't want to barge into Raven's room. She glanced over Raven's shoulder. Her room was the same as ever, dark and angular, with bookshelves packed so tightly that books were stacked face down on top of each other rather than standing up in rows. There was a book on Raven's bed, front and back covers splayed apart, spine facing up. She must have been in the middle of reading. Her gaze flicked to the window, attracted by a dark shape. A tattered cape flitted by the window.

Starfire started and leaned forward to try to get a better look, but the shape was gone.

"What's the matter?" Raven asked, finally recovering from Starfire's bone-crushing hug and straightening out.

"I- n-nothing. Nothing." Starfire backed up and smiled at Raven. Her smile must have been too wide and too forced, because Raven just looked more concerned.

Raven turned to look out the window, but nothing was there. Before she could ask Starfire what was going on, she was already flying down the hall to her own room.

That was Red X's cape. She knew it. But how? Robin was gone. A flurry of emotions fought for dominance in her chest. A flurry of excitement, which she recognized as absurd and stupid, flared up, sharp and spiked like an icicle and so intense that for a moment, she couldn't breathe. Then, like flakes of snow, other, duller feelings settled over that. She felt confused and angry and somehow disappointed.

How could he be here? Unless he lied about leaving. But how could he lie? She put her palm up against the keypad and her door slid closed. Almost immediately after the door slid into place, Red X bumped against her window. He was dangling upside down from a cord that must be attached to the roof with his ankles wrapped around it. His tattered black cap hung down past his shoulders. The skull shape of his mask was disconcerting. He locked eyes with her for a second before lifting a hand and tapping on her window.

Starfire let out a quick, violent puff of air and fought not to roll her eyes. She was suddenly so annoyed that it blotted out all her other emotions. She flew over to her window and opened it wide enough so that he could come in.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, hovering over him and crossing her arms over her chest.

"A guy can't come and say hello?"

It was irritating how smug he sounded behind the voice changing mouthpiece of the mask.

"What's the matter? You don't look very happy to see me." He sounded both hurt and amused.

She tilted her head at him. "What are you doing here?" she asked again, starting to feel uncomfortable. She was alone in her room with Robin. She'd never been alone in her room with Robin before. She was very hot suddenly. She took a step away from him.

"So… You're_ not_ happy to see me?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

They stood in uncomfortable silence. Starfire was comforted by the fact that at least they were both uncomfortable. It was this thought that pushed the words "I'm sorry" out of her mouth before she could stop them.

Red X raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

She wished she hadn't said anything. She landed on the ground, too distracted to keep hovering. "For kissing you."

He looked surprised.

Starfire rushed to keep talking. "I mean, I did not mean to do it. I was not thinking, and-"

"Look, Star," he interrupted her. Those two words were so familiar that for a second, she was soothed into calmness. It was like hearing a lullaby from a long time ago. "I'm not mad at you."

"You are not?" she repeated dully.

"No. Of course not. I'm _glad_." She couldn't tell, but he seemed to be smiling at her. She could hear it in his voice. "Things between us have always been kind of… well… difficult."

She tilted her head. Goosebumps broke out over her arms, and her calm feeling was being replaced by slow moving panic.

When she didn't say anything, he stepped closer to her and continued. Beneath the robotic, tinny sound, there was a softness in his voice. "I don't want things to be difficult anymore."

"Neither do I," she answered. She kept her arms crossed, but now she was rubbing her palms up and down her arms, trying to rub away the goosebumps.

Red X stepped closer to her, closing the distance between them. He placed his hands over hers and rubbed up and down her arms. She looked down, embarrassed by the closeness. She didn't want to mess things up again.

He put his index finger under her chin and tilted her head up so that she was looking at him. She felt like she was under water, getting pulled by the riptide. She could resist, but it just seemed easier- and somehow more natural- to just go along with it.

He put his mouth to her ear and she could feel his lips underneath the fabric as he spoke. He just said her name. She could feel his breath on her neck and she shivered. A burning feeling was working its way from her fingers to her lips. She wanted to tear his mask away from his face and smother every inch of exposed skin- neck, cheeks, forehead, mouth- in kisses. Her breath came out heavy and short, and her fingers itched with heat. She raised her hands to his neck and fumbled to find the edge of his mask.

He pressed his hands against the small of her back tightly, making her stumble forward. She wrapped her fingers around his shoulders for support. "I have to go," he breathed into her ear.

She pulled herself away from him. "What?"

He didn't say anything, but she could swear that he was smiling at her. He put two fingers to his temple in a salute and swept them through the air in a flourish that reached his opposite ear. He jumped out the window and dived, stretching his body into an arc, and then he was out of her line of vision. She floated over to the window and looked out over the edge, but she didn't see him. She stared at the ground beneath her window, bewildered.

Then there was a knock on her door that scared her so much she turned around with so much force that she almost got whiplash. She flew to the door and shook her hands to calm herself. She opened it with what must be an unnatural smile plastered to her face.

Beast Boy and Cyborg stood with hopeful grins, arms behind their backs.

"Hello, friends. I was just sitting in my room. Alone. Without anyone else. By myself! How may I help you?" she chittered nervously.

"Star! We were playing Gamestation and we mighta sorta wrecked the console when Cyborg pushed me into it," Beast Boy told her.

"It was B's fault," Cyborg added.

Beast Boy glared at him before resuming his sickly sweet smile at Starfire. "So we were tossing around ideas for what to play and…" Cyborg showed Starfire his right arm, which was holding a ball of old socks that were so dirty they actually stuck together. "Wanna ref for Stankball?" He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Yes! Of course!" Starfire shouted, more enthusiastically than she should have. "That sounds like it will be sooooo much fun!"

"Great!" Cyborg shouted, punching his fist into the air victoriously.

"Yeah! Oh, and Star… your window's open! Robin'll flip. You know how he hates it when we leave the windows open… he says it's not good for security." Beast Boy took off after Cyborg.

Starfire turned to face the offending window. "I do not think that he will do the flipping, after all," she muttered to herself. She floated over to the window and closed it, anyway.

**Gotta love stankball. Remember to review, cuz it's helpful and I like hearing what you guys think. **

**Thanks to Peach Tuesday's for reviewing to both chapters. You did not forget to be awesome!**

**I'm going try a thing: a teaser for the next chapter! (I have gone back and added these for chapters one and two. Tell me if you think they add anything to the story!)**

She loved him. She'd never vocalized it, even to herself, but she knew she did. Here he was apologizing to her and feeling embarrassed and unsure and she just wanted to make it better. And she could.

She kissed him lightly, a long peck, really. She'd never kissed anyone before. Not like that. She drew back and he made a sound in his throat. "Nice," he said softly. "My turn."

Suddenly his hands were at the small of her back and she was pressed close to him. She realized that she was still holding his mask and she let it drop so she could tangle her fingers in his hair. It was wet and heavy and as she curled her fingertips against his scalp, water pooled and dripped quickly away. His mouth pressed hard against hers and he was moving it slowly. She just tried to copy his movements. She tasted rainwater and salt and something that was decidedly more unique that she couldn't really describe. She let her hands come up and trace his jawline, his cheek, his hairline near his ears.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for any feedback you guys have given me! If I haven't responded to your reviews, it's because sometimes I don't have much to say in answer. But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate them! You guys rock.**

Starfire returned to her room. She smelled like feet and tube socks, and she hardly refereed at all. Not that Beast Boy or Cyborg noticed.

She glanced at her door and locked it. She opened the window and flew out of it. She'd been thinking about doing this the entire time she was watching Beast Boy and Cyborg. She flew over the streets of Jump, going west and then veering off to the south.

She landed in an alleyway. _The_ alleyway. The one where she saw Red X push the box of xynothium through the window.

It was the edge of an apartment building. Starfire knew it was on the second floor. She pressed all of the buzzers down in a line and, as she was hoping, the door was buzzed open. She could have broken in if she wanted, but she preferred to be more careful. She went up to the second floor of the building and knocked on the last door. First, a woman who looked like she just woke up from a nap answered the door, so she tried the room across the hall.

After about half a minute, Robin answered the door. He was wearing the Red X jumpsuit and his usual domino mask. He smirked and leaned against the doorframe. "Hey. What's up?"

Starfire chewed her lip nervously. She wasn't exactly sure what she wanted to say, but she knew she had to say something to him. "You lied to me again."

His smirk vanished and he looked concerned. "Look, I just-"

"No!" she interrupted him. "You promised me that you would stop the lying, and so far you have been continuing to-!"

Robin glanced around behind her and pulled her by the elbow into his apartment. It was lit by multiple candles and there was a clutter of dirty clothes on the floor and couch and there were dirty dishes piled in the sink and on the counter next to it.

"Why are you using so many candles?" she asked, forgetting her anger completely.

He waved his hand dismissively. "I didn't pay the electric."

She blinked at him. "Why not?"

"I didn't want Cyborg to see the missing funds," he answered smoothly.

"What about the rent?" she questioned. He was being elusive.

"I _do_ have some of my own money saved up that I don't give to the Titans. Just not enough to pay my electric this month. What's the matter, don't you trust me?" He asked, stepping closer to her.

She squinted at him. She felt so confused. He was so closed off one second and so sweet the next. It was confusing. "I don't know, Robin."

He took her fingers gently. "Let me fix that."

Starfire squeezed her eyes shut and ducked away from him. "Please, stop! I simply wish to talk to you."

Anger flashed over his features, and she took another step back. Then he reached a hand out to her. "Look, I'm sorry. It's just that you make me… I just want to be near you."

Happiness burst inside of her. She took a breath to refocus herself. "That is sweet. But I wish to know why you are deceiving me. I thought that you were doing this-" she gestured to his Red X uniform- "so that you could stop the deception."

"Yeah, Star, but- I mean, look. Listen, I _am_ going to Japan. I just fudged the truth about when I'm leaving and when I'm coming back," he explained.

"Why?" She sounded to herself like a whining child.

"Because. I'm trying to finish this. If I want to put Red X away forever, I have to be sure that I really understand criminals. I needed a few days to be able to get lost in it. You know- not worry about getting caught."

"Not too lost in it, I hope."

Robin smiled at her, and it almost melted Starfire's bones. She wanted to let him kiss her. She wanted to be close to him. "That's why I have you."

She threw her arms around his neck. His hands came together at the small of her back and squeezed her to him gently. Carefully, making sure she didn't make any mistakes, she stepped away from him.

"Starfire-"

"I have to get back. I must feed Silkie." She winced as she used the same excuse she'd used before, but he didn't notice. "I will see you when you get back from Japan," she said softly but sternly.

He furrowed his eyebrows and gaped at her. "What do you mean?"

"I can respect the reasons you have for lying, Robin, and I will not tell our friends that you are behaving in such a way. However, I do not wish for you to think that I am comfortable with it. I will not be visiting you here again."

He snapped his mouth shut. "So you're punishing me."

She smiled a little at him. "You could say that."

"Okay, fine. Go. See you," he said, smiling.

"Ibgrr verlok nes dorf makann." She turned and stepped out of the apartment. She missed his look of utter befuddlement.

Over the next few days, the Titans were busy. Something about Robin's absence made many of their enemies think they could get in an easy robbery. They had to deal with Control Freak, Dr. Light, and Fang, Kitten's old boyfriend, plus two cold-themed villains who went by the names of Kid Kold and Ice Kate. They had late nights and early mornings, and whenever Robin called them to check in, Starfire was doubly happy. She was happy to see Robin again, but she was also really happy that he would come back soon so that they could have a break.

When he called to check in the last time, Beast Boy and Cyborg were in the middle of playing video games.

"Hey, guys," he said as his face, enlarged to the size of their front window, appeared onscreen.

"Robin!" Starfire chirped happily as Beast Boy and Cyborg grumbled about their game getting interrupted.

"Hey," he said with a smile. He looked from Cyborg to Beast Boy and his smile vanished. "How's it going?"

Cyborg pushed his controller away. "Fang tried to rob the jeweler's on Eighth Avenue. We got him in the end, but he broke a string of pearls."

Robin grunted in acknowledgement.

"When're you coming back?" Beast Boy asked excitedly. Starfire wasn't the only one who realized that when Robin came back, they would be able to relax a little.

"Tomorrow morning. I'd go tonight, but there's a storm over the Pacific, and-"

"Great! It's seven now, so if we can go…" Beast Boy started counting on his fingers. "How many hours until Robin gets back?"

"Uh, try sixteen," Cyborg suggested.

"Sixteen hours without- Hey, that's a long time! Robin, you _have_ to come back before anyone else can attack the city! I can't handle another robbery!" Beast Boy complained.

"What he means," Raven said, materializing and startling Beast Boy so much that he fell off the couch, "is that he's tired of getting his butt kicked."

Beast Boy glared at her as he scrambled back onto the couch. "I am not! My butt is _not_ getting kicked!"

"Sure…" Raven said sarcastically.

"I get it," Robin interjected with a smile. "Actually, I'm going to be glad to get back, because-"

He was interrupted by the mechanical beep of the alarm system and the flashing red lights. The four teens gathered around the couch groaned.

"Okay, so sixteen hours… How big is the time difference between Japan and here? If you leave now, you should get here in a few minutes, right?" Beast Boy asked with an innocent smile.

Raven gave an exasperated sigh. "It's time _difference_, not time _travel_. Come on." She flew out the door.

"I knew that. I was _joking_, Raven. Joking!" Beast Boy protested before changing into a Pterodactyl and picking up Cyborg by his shoulders. He followed Raven out the door.

Starfire flew up to the screen until she was level with Robin's eyes. "I will see you in the morning, Robin! I wish you a good night!"

"Actually, it's morning here now," he reminded her gently.

"Of course. Good morning, then." She turned to fly away, and right before she got to the door she heard Robin call her name. She turned back.

"Just… be careful. Bye." Starfire watched as Robin flipped closed the T-comm and the world on-screen turned upside down briefly before going completely dark.

Starfire caught up to her friends, distracted by Robin's gesture- or lack of a gesture. He called her back. He must have wanted to say something before she left. Something that was definitely more important than _be careful_.

She put it out of her mind. Rain hammered the Titans as they made their way to downtown Jump. This must be the storm that Robin was talking about. Starfire was glad. Her starbolts had been so weak, they were almost useless. Maybe after this, the clouds would finally clear and she could recharge. She was snapped out of her reverie when Cyborg told her the break-in had been near here. Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire all saw it at the same time. They stopped almost in unison.

"Oh, no," Cyborg muttered. Raven muttered something _very_ rude under her breath and Starfire put her hand to her mouth. She should have been expecting this.

The bullet-proof window to the Gold shop was broken in a neat X, big enough in the center for someone to comfortably jump through. The X sliced through the words _Goldman Gold_ on top and _We buy and sell!_ on the bottom.

Beast Boy landed on the ground off to the side of the gaping hole. The glass was at least four inches thick were it had been obliterated. The glass wasn't splintered around the cut, so it wasn't carved open. The edges were also perfectly straight, so it wasn't exploded, either. "How did he get in there?"

"It looks like he melted the stuff," Raven answered, placing two fingers on the smooth edge of the X. She looked at Cyborg as she said, "I didn't even know that was possible."

"Oh, it's possible alright," he answered with a wry smile. "This looks like the work of concentrated xynothium." Raven jerked her hand back. "Don't worry," Cyborg rushed to reassure her, "the glass shouldn't be radioactive or contaminated or anything."

Starfire squirmed guiltily. She wasn't the only one who messed up the night Red X stole the xynothium, but she could have taken it when she went to the apartment last week. She was also upset that Robin ended up coming back earlier than he said he would so that he could play villain. She had been hoping he wouldn't. She thought he wouldn't, and when he checked in with them just before she thought that his window of opportunity was gone. But he must not have really been in Japan; yet another lie.

"Let's get 'im, guys," Cyborg said, stepping inside the shop. Little vaults that looked like armored P.O. boxes lined the wall behind the counter. Behind the counter and against the wall was a door that led to the back of the shop. The Titans went through this door, all very tense and expecting Red X to come out of the shadows and attack them at any moment. There was a kitchen in this back room, and past that was yet another door. But this door was cracked open and there was a greenish light coming from the room inside. Cyborg put his finger to his lips as a sign to be quiet, then he gestured to Starfire and Raven to stay where they were. He and Beast Boy walked quietly toward the room, and just before they got to the door, Red X's now-familiar voice said much too loudly against the pressing silence, "Took you guys long enough to get here."

Cyborg shrugged at Beast Boy and they ducked into the room. The girls could hear banging coming from the room, and then a sound that had to be bending metal. Beast Boy cried out in pain and then there was another bang. Cyborg charged up his cannon, but the shot never came. He must have been worried about the close quarters. A click told the girls that he closed his cannon up, and a series of thuds and clicks suggested a fist fight. After a few moments, Cyborg burst through the doorframe sideways, putting a hole through the right and left of the frame where his arms and legs wouldn't fit. Cyborg rolled to absorb the shock of the impact. "Star," he shouted, anger in his voice, "see if B's okay. Raven, with me!"

The girls glanced at each other solemnly, a mixture of a silent _good luck_ and a small moment of each thinking, _I wish I had your job. _But there was no time, so Raven went to help Cyborg with Red X and Starfire went to make sure Beast Boy was relatively uninjured.

She stepped into the room, which was really more of a walk-in vault. Starfire heard the glass from the window shatter and peeked out the door in time to see that a hole roughly the shape of Cyborg was now in the center of the huge X. She wanted to fly out there and make sure Red X didn't get away, but she knew he wouldn't leave without seeing her first. It wasn't like she didn't know where to find him.

She turned back to the vault. There were tons of gold bricks stacked in a pyramid behind a wall which seemed to be made out of iron bars, like a little gold prison. A few of the bars had been cut away, and the top of a gold brick pyramid had been disrupted. Beast Boy was sprawled across the floor on his stomach, close to the other side of the room. Behind these bars were gold earrings, rings, necklaces, and other jewelry. The bars a few feet above Beast Boy's head looked like they'd been bashed in.

Starfire kneeled next to him and lifted him by the shoulders, supporting his head. "Beast Boy? Please, friend, can you respond?"

Beast Boy moaned. "Unghhhhh… Star… I'm alright… But if I stand up, I'm gonna barf."

Starfire furrowed her brow. "What happened?"

"Changed into a rhinoceros… charged Red X to hit him with my horn… he moved at the last second, and I hit my head…" he explained with his eyes squeezed shut and his face pinched with pain.

"You may be concussed," Starfire assessed. "I will fly you to Rave-"

"Please," Beast Boy begged, holding his head, "don't fly me anywhere. I don't even think I can walk."

Starfire made an annoyed sound in her throat. She wasn't annoyed at Beast Boy, of course. She was concerned for him. His safety was her main concern right now. But she couldn't leave him, and she _really_ needed to go see what was happening outside.

She ducked out of the small room. She couldn't leave him alone for long, but if she could switch places with Raven quickly, Raven could heal him. She ran to the front of the shop, and she saw blue and red lights. Policemen.

She flew out the shattered window into the rain. It was coming down so hard now, she could hardly see anything. She located the police squad and instructed one of the officers to find Beast Boy and stay with him. She searched through rain so constant it was almost solid for the fight and found it just in time to see Red X attach a sparking X-shaped tool on Cyborg's back. When Cyborg's back didn't open up and reveal his paneling and hardware, she thought it had gone wrong. That was one of Red X's earliest tricks. But after a second, Cyborg began sparking and his limbs were flailing uncontrollably.

"Gah! I can't- Dude messed with my neural interfacing!" Cyborg yelled helplessly as his feet flailed so wildly that he fell on his back. His arms beat at the ground like paddles and he started to row his way across the ground. Starfire flew over to him and tried to grab his arm, but he was moving too spasmodically. "Don't worry about me, Star, go help Raven! He's got two gold bricks. Don't let him get away with those."

Starfire battled against the desire to help her friend and nodded at him. She flew up into the air, where Red X was currently working his way, by jumping and climbing and swinging and using grappling hooks, up the face of a building. Raven was shooting beams of dark energy at him. One shot got him in the foot, and the girls heard a muffled grunt from him as he landed heavily on top of a middle-sized office building.

"Got him!" Raven shouted triumphantly. "He won't get away now."

"Did you hurt him badly?" Starfire asked anxiously.

Raven let her mouth drop open a little and her eyebrows knitted together. "Of course not," she answered defensively.

Starfire felt her face relax with relief.

"You shouldn't be so conce-" Raven began.

"Raven, I believe that Beast Boy needs medical attention," Starfire blurted out.

The empath looked both concerned and suspicious. "What's wrong with him?"

"I believe that he is concussed. He is experiencing severe nausea, motion sickness, and he appears to be very sleepy," Starfire answered as they landed on the building.

The suspicion was replaced by alarm. "Do you think he needs help now? You didn't leave him alone, did you?"

"No. I left a police officer with him. I did not instruct him to take Beast Boy to a hospital, because I knew that you could take care of him without assistance. I fear that he will fall asleep, however," she answered. Starfire was not lying. Beast Boy really did need medical assistance, and soon. But he probably did not need help right this second. Starfire was hoping that after getting one good shot in, Raven would allow herself to leave to help Beast Boy.

Raven paused, thinking, rain bouncing off her hood. As Red X jumped from one building to another, she knocked down a billboard in his way. "That should slow him down enough for you to catch him. See you in a few." She dived down to the ground and Starfire breathed out a puff of air in relief.

She gained speed, easily catching up to Red X, and landed in front of him.

He stopped. "Don't be mad. Cyborg's 'condition' will wear off in half an hour. I swear."

"Beast Boy may be concussed!" Starfire informed him sharply.

"Ooh. Rough," Red X said sympathetically. "Look, Star, we're heroes. We can take more than a concussion. He'll be fine by morning, especially once Raven heals him."

"You must stop this," she said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest to convey how angry she was.

He sighed. Then energetically he chirped, "To stop me, you're gonna have to catch me, Princess!" He pressed a button on his belt and he blipped out of sight.

Starfire was really angry. She clacked her teeth together, thinking. She couldn't show up to the others empty handed. Raven already seemed to sense that something was going on. It was time for all this to stop, anyway. She knew where he was going, anyway.

With all the speed she could muster, Starfire streaked through the sky, heading southwest. The wind was cold against her arms and torso, and she couldn't see through all the rain that was getting in her eyes, but she pushed herself faster. She landed down the street from his apartment, facing the way shed just come.

A perfectly visible Red X appeared to her left, grabbing her wrist. She meant to surprise him on his way home, but he foresaw this and surprised her first. She was embarrassed.

"Okay, you caught me. Well, I caught you. That's a technicality. The question is, now that you have me, what are you gonna do with me?" He waggled his eyebrows at her.

"Please, stop. This is a grave matter," she insisted, wrenching her wrist out of his hand and putting her knuckles against her hip.

"Okay, okay. I don't normally do grave. But for you, anything. What is it?" he asked innocently.

"This must stop," she repeated.

"What, this? The two of us, alone together in an alley? I get ya. My room's upstairs. I agree, it's much more-"

"Robin!" she hissed. He stopped and looked at his feet guiltily. "I believe you know to what I am referring."

He raised his eyes back up to hers. "Yeah, I know. You mean _this_. I promise, this can be the last time."

She didn't know what to say. She was so surprised. "Thank you," she managed.

"Oh, Star, don't thank me yet," he said quickly.

"Why not?" she demanded.

"There is a price for my obedience."

She was mad that he was treating this like a game when it was so serious to her, but she was also curious, and a little bit… nervous. Or excited. She sensed something in his words. "What is that?" she asked, only allowing the anger to color her voice.

He stepped close to her and pushed her wet hair away from her ear, pressing the cloth of his mask against it. She could feel the hotness of his breath on her face. "A kiss."

There it was. Her blood was suddenly too warm. She could feel it flowing in her fingers and she could definitely feel it collecting in her face. Even with the cool rain hammering down on her, she was uncomfortably hot. "What?" she managed.

He put his hands on either side of her hips with the palms resting against the wall, blocking her exits. She could still fly away, but he was so close to her that she would just bump his head. He lowered his forehead so that it was only a few inches away from hers. "Oh, come on. I _know_ you heard me."

"Robin, I do not- It is raining, and-"

"Oh, come on. I'm not that bad, am I?" His attempt at humor was lost on her. He paused, and his face changed from amused and expectant to slightly embarrassed. "Oh, man. Starfire, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have suggested that. I get that you're upset, and I didn't mean to- what are you doing?"

She was clutching at his neck. Her fingers slid over the wet spandex, fumbling for the edge of his mask. She peeled it up slowly, uncovering his mouth, his nose, his eyes, and finally working it entirely off his head. He shook his hair out, the rain making it stick to his head. Starfire knew her hair was sticking to her skin, and her clothes were wet and heavy and a little uncomfortable, and she was even still a little mad that Robin was willing to endanger Beast Boy. But none of that was important.

She loved him. She'd never vocalized it, even to herself, but she knew she did. Here he was apologizing to her and feeling embarrassed and unsure and she just wanted to make it better. And she could.

She kissed him lightly, a long peck, really. She'd never kissed anyone before. Not like that. She drew back and he made a sound in his throat. "Nice," he said softly. "My turn."

Suddenly his hands were at the small of her back and she was pressed close to him. She realized that she was still holding his mask and she let it drop so she could tangle her fingers in his hair. It was wet and heavy and as she curled her fingertips against his scalp, water pooled and dripped quickly away. His mouth pressed hard against hers and he was moving it slowly. She just tried to copy his movements. She tasted rainwater and salt and something that was decidedly more unique that she couldn't really describe. She let her hands come up and trace his jawline, his cheek, his hairline near his ears. She fingered the edge of his mask and he jerked away from her, breathing hard.

She was terrified. He looked so angry. His mouth was set in a hard line and his eyes were severe looking. But then, somehow, without seeming to move his face, he looked content, and maybe a little worried. "Was that- I mean are you- I mean-" He froze. His muscles were so tense against her, it almost hurt.

"Ro-?" she started, but he cut her off with a quick kiss.

"Shhh. I gotta go. Have these." Something cold and wet slid into her fingers, and when he let go, she realized it was very heavy. She looked down at her hand and saw two gold bricks sitting there.

"Starfire?"

She snapped her head up. Robin was gone. Raven was standing at the entrance to the alley, one eyebrow raised in a questioning gesture.

"Yes! I have retrieved the stolen goods," she answered, holding up her hand.

"Where's Red X?" Raven demanded, walking toward her.

Starfire noticed the mask she dropped sitting in a puddle. She kicked it nonchalantly aside into the shadows, making it look like she was coming to meet Raven in the middle of the alley. "I do not know! He was standing here one second and the next- nothing! He must have teleported."

Raven sighed. "We'll have to thank Robin when he gets home."

"What?!" Starfire choked.

Raven looked appalled at Starfire's violent reaction. "For putting an untraceable teleportation device in the suit."

"Oh! Of course!" Starfire chittered in agreement.

"Come on. Let's get you home. You must be over-tired. At least the sun should come out tomorrow; maybe you'll feel better…" Raven suggested amicably, putting her hand between Starfire's shoulder blades and guiding her toward the Tower.

**As usual, let me know what if you liked it. Or if you didn't. And why. (Took them long enough to kiss, huh?) Next teaser:**

"No, Star, our friendship could never dissolve." He paused and his smile got a little bit smaller. "Unless, I mean…" he floundered.

Starfire jumped off the bed, worried that she somehow said the wrong thing. "Unless what, Robin? You no longer wish to be friends? You-"

"No!" he interrupted quickly. "No, Star. Jeez, you're not making this easy. I mean, that maybe we… we could…" He looked up at her helplessly.

"What, Robin?" she questioned. She was a little concerned. Robin always knew what to say. Always.

He sighed and looked down at the ground, standing still for a second. Then, very quickly, like he was trying to go before he could convince himself not to, he shot his arm out and grabbed her wrist. He wasn't rough at all, but he was forceful and quick. He pulled her to him with one long gesture of his arm, and while still holding her wrist, pressed his lips against hers.

Starfire reacted immediately. She pulled her wrist away from Robin's fingers, resting her hands on his shoulders. He put his hands carefully on her hips without pulling her closer. He tilted his head away.

"I mean," he said, his voice low in his throat, "that maybe we could… do this more often."

Starfire gasped. "You wish for me to be the girl who is your friend?"

Robin nodded. "Uh-huh."

She smiled. So it wasn't the most romantic way of asking. So she still had a few problems with Robin that she wanted to sort out. She was happy. In fact, she had to concentrate to keep herself from floating.

**Yeah. It's about to get realllll fluffy. **


	5. Chapter 5

**In which Starfire discovers coffee. The beginning scene was just something that popped into my head, and I think it's something adorable that Starfire would do. I wanted to put it **_**in**_** something rather than just write a silly oneshot or drabble where Starfire has coffee for the first time and zooms around the Tower and accidentally blows stuff up. I'm sure it's been overdone. Anyway, enjoy this chapter! **

Starfire turned the water on, and after a few seconds, steam rose from the showerhead as hot water poured out of it. She stepped into the shower, shivering slightly. Last night, she'd come home soaked to the bone, her clothes dragging on her skin uncomfortably. She was so dazed and tired that she fell asleep on top of the covers with her wet uniform on. She woke up early, and she changed into heavy pajamas and a robe to try to get warm, but she couldn't seem to shake the cold that lingered under her skin. She decided that a hot shower would fix that. Plus, she needed it to tame her hair.

The good thing about being up so early is that nobody else would want to use the bathroom yet (probably). Starfire took her time in the shower, lathering, rinsing, and repeating. When she stepped out, she put on her clean uniform, minus the boots, and blew her hair dry. She emerged feeling better. She tried to keep her mind off of Robin.

She could already feel herself getting excited, and she tried to rein it in. Getting excited now would drive her crazy. He probably wasn't going to show up until around eleven. It was only eight now. She entered the common room, twisting her hair around her finger. The Tower was her home, but she felt strangely out of place. Raven usually claimed the common room in the morning for meditation, and Starfire didn't want to interrupt. However, a quick glance around revealed that the room was empty. She wondered if she was sleeping in because she was tired. When Starfire went to bed last night, Raven was still up, monitoring Beast Boy's condition.

Starfire fiddled around in the cabinets, trying to figure out what to eat. She hadn't really mastered Earth cuisine yet. She was used to Cyborg or Beast Boy cooking meals for the rest of the team. There were some coffee grounds in a container on the upper shelf, suited for Cyborg's height. She didn't think he would mind her trying some. She lifted herself up from the ground so that she could reach it. She grabbed the blue container and upon landing fetched herself a spoon. Unscrewing the lid, she inhaled and sighed. The coffee did smell very nice, and she could already taste the bitterness. She'd never actually had coffee before, but she could see herself liking it. She scooped some of the grounds up with her spoon and after another quick sniff, put it in her mouth.

She made a small sound of alarm. The grounds were very _dry_. She put the spoon in the sink and chewed desperately, trying to get the grounds out of her mouth.

"What are you doing?"

Starfire turned quickly, feeling a mixture of guilt and embarrassment. She almost choked when she realized that it wasn't Cyborg to demand why she was eating all his coffee, or Raven to become exasperated with her lack of Earth knowledge, or Beast Boy to crack a joke that she would laugh at while secretly feeling really embarrassed.

"Robin!" she gasped- well, she tried to. As her mouth was still full of coffee grounds, she got out a very muffled "Wogim!" before choking on a few grains of coffee that she inhaled. She coughed, turning to the sink to try to spit out the grounds. She swallowed an unpleasantly large lump of stuck-together grounds and raked her tongue over her teeth, trying to make sure none of it was in her mouth anymore.

"You're supposed to _drink_ that, Star," he advised with a smile while her back was still turned to him.

After composing herself a little more, she spun around and threw her arms around his neck in a fierce hug. She stepped back and answered, "Yes, it appears that way…"

He was looking at her with a smile that made her blush. It seemed to say, _What am I gonna do with you?_, and maybe something else, too. After too long a silence, he said, "I didn't know you liked coffee, anyway."

"It smells pleasant, but I do not know how pleased I am with the taste…" An involuntary look of disgust scrunched up her face.

Robin's smile got wider, like she'd just made a joke. "Do you want me to make some?"

"I think I have had enough coffee for the day, thank you," she returned with her own smile. There was another long silence, and Starfire rushed to fill it with words. "You're back earlier than you said you would be." She knew he didn't want to talk about Red X, but maybe if he brought it up on his own…

"Yeah. I actually thought I might be back by now." He shifted uncomfortably and Starfire felt her stomach drop. He lied. Again. "I was hoping that I could get a minute to talk to you. Alone," he added.

She looked up at him. "You did?" She started to get excited. He would want to talk about last night. Another surge of excitement flared through her. Last night… She was starting to get dizzy.

"Yeah. Is that okay?" His voice was full of concern. She didn't know if it was because he knew that she was upset about his lying, or if he was worried that she wouldn't be happy about what transpired between them, or if it was because he could tell that she was feeling dizzy and a little lightheaded. She tried to calm down a little.

"Yes! Of course! Robin, you know that you can speak to me about anything, whenever you need to," she said, hoping that he would get the hint that she wanted to talk about Red X.

Instead, he just stood there looking at her. She shifted uncomfortably, and he snapped out of whatever daze made him so spacey. "Sorry, I was just thinking. Come on, let's go to my room."

"Your room?" Starfire squeaked.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah. That's alright, right? I mean, I want to talk to you before everybody else realizes that I'm here, and…"

"Of course, it's fine," she assured him quickly. She followed him through the Tower, still semi-dark while the rest of the team was sleeping, and she stepped after him into his room. He flipped on the lights, which somehow made Starfire feel more at ease. She took a seat on the edge of his bed.

Robin looked at her and glanced at his door, almost like he wanted one of them to be on the other side of it. He was fidgeting nervously. "Is everything all-?"

"Yeah, it's good. Just, Star, before I left, you… you kissed me."

Now Starfire wished that she was on the other side of his door. How could he bring that up? It was embarrassing. Especially since they'd moved on from that with their real kiss last night. She didn't look at him, suddenly very interested in his carpet.

"You seemed upset about it. I just wanted to tell you not to be," he continued.

She didn't answer. She just looked up at him. He looked really nervous, and it made her melt a little. It was so uncharacteristic of him, and it reminded her that he really let himself be open around her. "Robin," she started. Then she stopped. She didn't know what else to say, she just really wanted to get out his name. "I was upset because I was afraid that I crossed a boundary. That you would not appreciate it and that our friendship would dissolve. I am glad that that was not the case." She smiled up at him.

"No, Star, our friendship could never dissolve." He paused and his smile got a little bit smaller. "Unless, I mean…" he floundered.

Starfire jumped off the bed, worried that she somehow said the wrong thing. "Unless what, Robin? You no longer wish to be friends? You-"

"No!" he interrupted quickly. "No, Star. Jeez, you're not making this easy. I mean, that maybe we… we could…" He looked up at her helplessly.

"What, Robin?" she questioned. She was a little concerned. Robin always knew what to say. Always.

He sighed and looked down at the ground, standing still for a second. Then, very quickly, like he was trying to go before he could convince himself not to, he shot his arm out and grabbed her wrist. He wasn't rough at all, but he was forceful and quick. He pulled her to him with one long gesture of his arm, and while still holding her wrist, pressed his lips against hers.

Starfire reacted immediately. She pulled her wrist away from Robin's fingers, resting her hands on his shoulders. He put his hands carefully on her hips without pulling her closer. He tilted his head away.

"I mean," he said, his voice low in his throat, "that maybe we could… do this more often."

Starfire gasped. "You wish for me to be the girl who is your friend?"

Robin nodded. "Uh-huh."

She smiled. So it wasn't the most romantic way of asking. So she still had a few problems with Robin that she wanted to sort out. She was happy. In fact, she had to concentrate to keep herself from floating.

She was his girlfriend. She was his _girlfriend._ They were _dating._ She pulled him in for a long hug, and then they were kissing. It wasn't like the previous night's kissing. It was so much gentler and slower and softer. Starfire felt like she could melt.

Too soon, they broke apart. "Come on," Robin whispered, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Everyone will be wondering where you are."

Starfire nodded dreamily and followed him back out to the common room. They were met with a few confused looks about Robin's early arrival, but the sarcastic comments about their apparent new relationship were at a minimum.

"Uh, guys? Did you have coffee this morning? Because the Folger's was out already when I got here, but the coffee machine wasn't on or anything…" Cyborg asked, trailing off when Robin started chuckling and Starfire blushed.

* * *

For the next week, things were quiet in Jump City. The H.I.V.E. Five attempted a break in at a jewelry store, but Kid Flash and Jinx shut it down before the Titans even got there.

Robin and Starfire settled into a comfortable routine. They'd agreed not to sleep in each other's rooms. Not that they didn't want to, but they wanted to take it slow. Starfire was enjoying it. On Tamaran, relationships were much faster paced and somehow much simpler than Earth relationships. She was enjoying the slowness and the intricate complexities that made it special.

Things were mostly the same between them, but they touched more. They held hands as they walked down the halls and Robin preferred to sit on the couch with his arm over Starfire's shoulders. And one of them would disappear into the other's room each night for about an hour. Starfire quickly discovered that she liked kissing. She liked the closeness and the way it made her feel. She didn't like it when they had to part for the night, but she knew they would see each other first thing in the morning.

Red X had been silent, and Starfire thought happily that it wasn't just a coincidence. She'd inspired Robin to stop thieving. There was even another shipment of xynothium that came in the other day, and the Titans didn't catch so much as a glimpse of Red X.

One night, Robin and Starfire were sitting on the couch. The TV was on, but they weren't paying much attention to it. Robin was lying on his back, propped up by the arm of the couch. Starfire was lying next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Robin was running his fingers up and down her arm.

"Hey," he murmured next to her ear. "Star."

"Yes, Robin?" she asked softly. "I am not sleeping."

"I just wanted to tell you that I think I have to go to Gotham this weekend."

Starfire stirred. "What?"

"Yeah. I got an e-mail from Alfred a couple days ago," he said vaguely.

She frowned at him. "You thought that this should be kept secret?"

Robin sighed. "No. It's just that I wasn't sure if I was going to go. I've been thinking about it, though, and I decided to go."

"Oh." She paused. She wanted to ask him why he was going, but he didn't seem to want to tell her. "Is the reason for your going secret, as well?"

"No. Batman's got a new Robin," he told her shortly.

Starfire gasped, leaning on his elbow to look down at him. "What? Does this upset you?"

"No," he answered quickly. "Besides, he's already had a new Robin."

"He has?"

"Yeah, for a while. It didn't work out. He was too used to his own ways. When Batman found him, he was trying to steal the hubcaps from the Batmobile. They got into an argument about morals and they split up. I haven't heard from him since, but I'm sure the old man's keeping an eye on him. This should be different, because this kid's a little younger. The last one was my age." Robin realized that he was talking a lot and glanced up at his girlfriend. "Sorry."

"It is okay! I enjoy hearing about the details of your life that you usually refrain from revealing," she assured him.

Robin turned her so that she was facing him. "I'm tired of talking." He pulled her so that she was leaning over him before gently pressing her close to him. She brushed her lips against his, sparks exploding under her skin wherever he touched her.

* * *

"Are you _sure_ you don't want any of us to come with you? Namely, me?" Beast Boy whined.

"No," Robin answered firmly.

"Can you at least get an autogra-"

"No."

Beast Boy pouted. "Fine. Don't. I don't care."

"Say hi to Bats for us," Cyborg said as Robin leaned over to read the fuel gage on the R-Cycle.

"I will," Robin replied.

Starfire pulled him into a hug. "Travel safely, and enjoy yourself!"

Robin pecked her on the lips before slipping on his helmet. "I'll try. I'll call you tonight on the T-comm." He squeezed her hand once.

He took his seat on the bike. He looked at Raven expectantly, and the other three members of the team turned to her.

She noticed them looking at her. "Um… Don't get hit or anything on your way there."

"Thanks, Raven," Robin said with an amused smirk. He revved the engine twice, gave a final wave to his team, and was off.

Beast Boy was smiling triumphantly.

"What did you do?" Raven demanded suspiciously.

"Nothing! Who says I did anything?" Beast Boy spluttered guiltily.

"Nobody needs to say anything. It's written all over your face," Raven replied.

Beast Boy chuckled at his own brilliance before deciding to include everyone else. "I put a picture of Batman for him to autograph in the storage compartment on Robin's-"

"B?" Cyborg interrupted, his voice tinged with laughter. He held up a black and white picture of Batman on a rooftop, cape billowing out behind him in the wind, the Batsignal lighting up the sky behind him. Written on the bottom right corner in scrawling handwriting in reflective green pen was "To Beast Boy- the best looking hero west of Gotham".

Beast Boy's ears drooped. "But I snuck it in the storage compartment this morning before we all came down here!"

"Robin gave it to me a few minutes ago. He didn't look very amused," Cyborg said with a smile.

"I don't know what else to do, then! I keep mailing these, but Batman won't sign them!" Beast Boy lamented.

"The Batcave gets mail?" Raven asked doubtfully.

"I don't know. I just stamp a big Batsignal on the envelope and toss it in the mail. What?" he demanded as Raven rolled her eyes.

* * *

Starfire lay on her pale pink duvet on her stomach, propped up on her elbows and balancing her chin on the heel of her hand. Her feet were raised in the air behind her, crossed at the ankles. She flipped through the pages of a magazine which seemed to be mostly about boy bands and the Disney Channel. Her communicator started beeping and she reached for it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Star." Robin sounded weary.

"Robin! Your journey was pleasurable?"

"Actually getting here was okay. The jets I installed in the Cycle were a good investment. Did I miss anything with you guys?" He asked almost hopefully.

"Of course not. You are not looking for an excuse to come home, are you?"

Robin sighed, but gave her a little smile. "Nothing gets past you."

"You are having a bad time? Why?" Starfire questioned, switching the communicator to her other hand and sitting up.

"It's nothing major. It's just stressful. Being here with Batman… it's like I'm nine years old and don't know anything again. I've been so used to the freedom of having my own team that it's so restrictive being here."

Starfire didn't know what to say. Robin hadn't exactly been very open with the team about his past. "You are a good leader, Robin. And even though you may feel small and inexperienced alongside the Batman, I can assure you that to us, there is no one better suited to do your job than you."

"Thanks, Star. Just do me a favor and let me know if something happens by you guys, okay?"

"Nonsense. You work so hard, take the weekend to enjoy yourself." She smiled a little worriedly at him.

Robin lowered his voice. "I enjoy myself a lot more when I'm with you."

Starfire grinned stupidly. "Robin, I-"

"Master Richard," an accented voice called from somewhere far away from where Robin was talking.

He shot a terrifyingly annoyed look to his left. "I gotta go. Talk to you tomorrow. Love you." He snapped his communicator closed.

Starfire let her mouth hang open. He said it. He said he loved her. He did it so perfunctorily that it raised goosebumps on her arms. They hadn't said that to each other yet. A rush of warm bubbles floated up from her stomach so quickly it made her a little dizzy.

Before she could reflect on that too much, the lights in her room shut off and a red flashing replaced them, along with a low wailing.

"Titans!" Cyborg called. "Trouble! Move your butts!"

**Cliffhanger! Or not. Also, if you are putting Batman in a fic, it's MANDATORY to have Beast Boy fanboy all over the place. I mean, he was starstruck by Robin. It's practically canon. I'm skipping through time quite a lot in this fic. Oh well. I'm not going to write about a day where nothing happens. I guess that means the plot needs some work or something, but I'm not too concerned about it. I suppose I could condense the time a little, but Robin would be coming and going quite a lot. Plus, I wanted to have them dating for a few days at this point, and the only other thing I could think of to fill the time was to have a lot of plotless fluff. Which I don't mind, but there's a time and place, you know? What do you think? Tell me in your reviews. And here's the next teaser:**

She crept through the apartment, observing it this time. It looked pretty lived in. She saw the bedroom door swung half open and an assortment of dirty clothes- civilian clothes- were flung around the room, which was very uncharacteristic of Robin. She could see the kitchenette, with dirty dishes piled around the sink, and another half closed door. She pushed it open gingerly and shrieked in surprise when a fist came her way. She ducked just in time and the fist hooked through the air.

"Robin!" she gasped. "It is I,Starfire, your friend!" She righted herself. He was wearing his Red X suit sans mask. His hair was wet and a towel lay draped across the sink. Both of his masks sat on top of the tank of the toilet. Her blood froze. She'd never seen his eyes before, not even since they started dating.


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay. For clarity's sake, from this point on, whenever I refer to Robin in the Red X suit, I'm just going to say Red X. It's too confusing otherwise. **

"What is the trouble?" Starfire asked as she carried Cyborg by his molybdenum armor across the skies of Jump City.

"Red X."

She almost dropped him. "What?"

"It's Red X," Cyborg repeated. "But we gotta hurry."

"What's the problem?" Raven asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"He's stealing a string of pearls from the Wayne Enterprises building."

"I did not realize that they kept pearls in the Wayne building," Starfire said.

"They don't, usually. This string of pearls belonged to Mrs. Wayne, and it used to be kept in Gotham. Catwoman stole it and when it was covered, Bruce Wayne moved it here. He's our biggest sponsor, so I don't want any screw ups. Especially since Robin's not here." He added the last part in a mumble, and Starfire could barely make out what he was saying.

"What's the big hitch in the plan?" Raven urged, sensing that something else was wrong.

"Red X didn't trip the sensors until he took the bracelet out of the safe. He's on his way out, _now_."

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven chanted calmly. She was swallowed up by a black sphere and she vanished from sight. Beast Boy shifted to a peregrine falcon from his usual pterodactyl and rocketed toward Wayne enterprises. Starfire put on some speed, but it was hard to go very fast when she was carrying someone, and Cyborg was heavy.

They touched down on the top of the building. Cyborg paused and listened, then tapped the touch screen built into his arm. "Oh, man," he groaned in a soft voice. "They're in the ducts. B's fightin' him now, and Raven…" He paused and stared at the ground, searching. "I see her. Knocked out, but breathing normally." His eyes widened and he shouted, "Star! Watch it, he's-"

He was interrupted as part of the ceiling exploded. Starfire covered her face with her arms and was blown into the air before she could catch herself. Smoke stung at her eyes and she floated above it. "Cyborg!" she yelled, cupping her hands over her mouth like a megaphone.

"I'm okay! Find X!" he shouted back.

"I'm okay too, guys," Beast Boy shouted, annoyed.

Starfire heard a thud of skin against skin. "Oof- less okay!"

Starfire dived back into the cloud, aiming for Beast Boy's voice. She didn't call out for him in hopes of keeping Red X's attention away from her. She found him in human form, struggling to escape from a very stretchy net-type of X that wrapped around his arms and legs.

"Can you not escape?" Starfire asked in a whisper, her voice full of concern.

"Thanks for the suggestion, Star. I've been sitting here twiddling my thumbs and hoping that would get me out of this," he snapped.

She ignored him. "You cannot change into something smaller?"

He demonstrated the futility of this by changing into a mouse. His little paws were still constricted by the stretchy yet restrictive X.

"An insect, perhaps?" Starfire whispered desperately.

"I don't want to end up squished!" he snapped back at her.

"I will find some way to-" She stopped and dragged Beast Boy to the side as she ducked under a ray of blue light, fired from Cyborg's cannon.

"Watch it, Cy!" Beast Boy shouted. Starfire clapped her hand over his mouth and tensed up, hoping that somehow, Red X didn't hear him.

They heard Cyborg shout angrily and saw a few more rays of light, then nothing. Then, the sound of metal on metal screeched toward them.

Beast Boy shouted in fear. "Cyborg!"

The half robotic Titan was sprawled on the ground in front of them, face up, his circuits dim.

Starfire clenched her hands into fists, charging a starbolt in them and in her eyes, and gritted her teeth. She let go of Beast Boy and jumped into the air. She spotted Red X just outside the cloud of dust, waiting for her. She landed in front of him and threw a punch, which he blocked.

"Hey, Princess," he greeted her as though they were meeting up for a date.

She shot out a ray of light from her eyes and he ducked under it. "Hey! Don't be mad!" he shouted defensively. He grabbed her wrists and she glared at him. "Or do. It's kind of sexy."

Starfire made an indignant sound in her throat and aimed a kick at him. He ducked and swept his foot under hers, knocking her off balance. She crashed to the ground on her elbow, letting out a rather impolite Tamaranean word. He started walking past her, but she grabbed his ankle and pulled back as far as she could. He let out his own impolite word and almost fell on top of her, bracing himself on his palms.

He swung his left leg over her hips so that he was straddling her. Starfire felt her cheeks burn, and, annoyingly, a familiar surge of excitement that she got from being close to Robin. "If you wanted to cuddle," he whispered, putting his mouth close to her neck, "you just had to ask."

She aimed her eyebeams at him and he rolled out of the way. She managed to catch his shoulder and he yelped in pain. "Play nice, princess," he instructed behind gritted teeth. "Or I won't."

"This is not a game!" She growled. She pinned him to the ground beneath her, twisting his wrists up above his head. He winced as his injured shoulder was pressed against the ground. "Who are you?" she hissed, putting her face near his.

"What?" he asked, sounding completely surprised.

"You cannot be Robin. Robin is currently in Gotham City." He didn't answer her, and she ground his wrists into the ground.

He hissed in pain. "I really am Robin! Star, look. Take off the mask." She eyed him suspiciously. "Come on, you know I can't beat you in terms of strength. Especially not like this." He jerked his chin upward, indicating the position of his wrists.

Starfire didn't trust him. He could still kick her in the stomach, or twist away while she was distracted, or somehow activate a hidden device… but she didn't care. She lifted away her left hand, leaving her dominant hand to restrain his wrists, and slowly lifted off the mask, afraid of what she would see.

Her stomach sank as she lifted his mask up past his eyes, revealing the mask he always wore, and then up past his hair, spiky as always.

He smiled at her. "See? I told you it was me." He began to lower his wrists slowly, as though he thought she wouldn't notice. She let him move into a more comfortable position before lashing out, eyes glowing, and slamming his wrists into the ground again. "This has gone far enough. I have been patient and understanding, but I cannot let you continue to do this."

He sighed. "Star, I didn't want to do this, but…" He lifted his lower body off the ground and wrapped his legs around her torso. She cried out in surprise, and he rolled her over so that he was on top of her. "I told you I wouldn't play nice, Princess," he whispered before kissing her.

She hated herself for it, but her brain got fuzzy and all she could concentrate on was how close he was to her. This was unlike anything they'd done together so far. She could feel the muscles in his legs around her hips and in his arms as he held her in place. She tried to snap out of it and get angry enough to fire a starbolt or tap into her strength, but she couldn't. She made a frustrated noise against his mouth and she felt him smirk before biting her lower lip. Hard. She gasped and jerked away instinctively, slamming her head into the ground.

She felt the pressure lift off of her, and she tried to follow, but the knock on her head made her woozy. She groaned and felt a stabbing hollowness in her stomach that threatened to push its way back up her throat. She heard a rustle of material as Red X grabbed his mask off the ground and put it back on his head.

He pushed her hair behind her ear, muttering, "Nothing personal, Princess." He pushed his mask away so that his mouth was uncovered and pressed his lips against her head. "Feel better," he said after he slipped it back on. She saw him spread out his arms and fall off the building like a suicide jumper. She tried to get up, but the motion made her retch and that made the pain in her head almost unbearable, and her vision flashed white.

She groaned. Raven was nowhere in sight, Beast Boy was restrained, and Cyborg was shut down. And Starfire was almost passed out. The only one who could save them was the one who did this to them. She let herself cry silently. She was angry, but mostly she felt abandoned. She could not understand why one second Robin was sweet and the minute he put on the mask, he became an uncaring klorbag varblernelk. She didn't understand why he even felt like he had to put the mask on.

Starfire's eyes started getting heavy, and she felt herself getting pulled into sleep. She had to find out a way to help her friends. She tried to roll over, but the pain in her head spiked and she swallowed down a lump of bile in her throat. She whimpered helplessly, biting her tongue to keep from calling for Robin.

She didn't know how long it had been, but suddenly her vision went green. She squeezed her eyes shut and lights burst across her lids. "Star?" Beast Boy's voice washed over her like water. "Starfire?"

"Beast Boy?" she answered, talking through a mouth stuffed full of cotton.

"What's the matter?" he asked, sounding far away.

"I seem to have taken a blow to head," she said. Her own voice was ringing in her ears.

He swam in duplicate and triplicate in front of her. "It's okay," he told her in a voice that said that he clearly didn't think so, "I know where Raven is. I shouldn't leave you alone but… I'll be right back. Don't go to sleep okay?"

Saying this only made her more tired. She yawned and tried to nod, but was stopped by the cutting pain in her head.

A few minutes later, Beast Boy returned. Raven's arm was slung around his shoulder for support. Starfire was seeing them in fuzzy duplicate, like something out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't bring them into focus. "Did he knock her out, too?"

"No," he answered, peering down at Starfire. "She's conscious. But she's talking weird. Like, slurred."

"Starfire," Raven called, trying to make her focus.

"I am here, Raven. You do not have to shout."

Raven and Beast Boy glanced at each other. "Hold still," Raven ordered. She put her hand on Starfire's temples, moving her hands around on Starfire's head until she found the bruise on the back. Starfire tried to jerk away, but Raven held her tight. "That's a dangerous spot to hit. She probably just has a concussion, though. She felt her head go cold, and then the cold seeped into her skin like water in dry earth. She gasped, so cold she was going numb. Then it was gone, and so was her pain.

"Thank you." Starfire furrowed her brow in confusion. Her words were still coming out slurred.

Beast Boy gave a yelp of surprise. "She's not fixed!"

"That's because it's not the injury that's doing his to her. Red X must have done something. We need to get her back to the Tower," Raven commanded in a level voice.

"What about Cyborg?" Beast asked, still sounding panicked.

"We'll have to take him, too. Starfire, can you get up?"

Starfire rolled experimentally onto her knees, but when she stopped rolling, the world didn't. The pain in her stomach was gone, although she still felt like she might throw up. "No," she said, concentrating too hard on not falling over to give a more detailed answer.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," Raven chanted. Starfire heard a metallic thud as Cyborg was gently placed on the ground next to her. "Okay, it's going to be a bumpy ride. Just keep your eyes shut, Starfire."

Then, Starfire felt like she was being sucked down a drain with ice cold water. She clamped her eyes shut, but the spinning didn't subside. Even after the coldness faded and she heard Raven and Beast Boy's voices as she was lifted onto a soft surface, the spinning never stopped.

The last thing she was aware of was Beast Boy suggesting that she go to sleep and a blast of coldness.

When she woke up, she did not feel very good. She ran her hand through her hair, which was very knotted. She sat up, grabbing onto the familiar leather of the couch in the ops room.

Beast Boy, in the shape of a kitten, stirred on the ledge of the couch above and next to her. He stretched as he woke up and began purring. He jumped off the edge of the couch and morphed back into a human.

"Star! You're okay!" Beast Boy shouted.

"Yes. Did you stay there all night?" she asked, touched by his display of loyalty.

"Yep," he replied with a grin, which faded after a few moments. "Uh, please don't tell Robin that I slept next to you all night."

Starfire smiled at him. "Thank you. Is everyone else okay?"

"Yep. Red X knocked Raven out when she tried to stop him inside. He jumped into the air ducts and tried to get away that way, but I followed him. He got me with one of his stupid X-net things, and he hacked Cyborg's system to shut him down," he explained.

"How did you escape from the X-net?" she probed, trying to get a better grasp on what happened.

"Weird, Robin must have built the suit so that we weren't in too much trouble even if he wiped with the floor with us, because after, like, half an hour, it retracted into a little red X again."

"And Cyborg?"

"He's fine. Only Robin and Cyborg know how to reboot him by heart, but I knew where the emergency manual was. Me and Raven fixed him up and recharged him," Beast Boy answered proudly.

"What about me?" She felt silly asking so many questions.

"Well, at first I thought you had a concussion, and you might have, but Red X sprayed some kind of gas at you. It made you all loopy," Beast Boy explained, moving his hand with his fingers splayed in circular movements around his ears.

"It what?"

"It disoriented you," Cyborg said from the doorway.

"Right, that's what I said!" Beast Boy said defensively.

Cyborg ignored him. "It was translucent, odorless spray. It isn't lethal, but it's not exactly safe. An overdose could put you in the hospital until the antidote is administered."

"What's the antidote?" Starfire asked.

"If it doesn't wear off like it did on you? Gaseous xynothium," Cyborg answered grimly.

"Doesn't that junk like explode and stuff?" Beast Boy exclaimed worriedly.

"Only as a solid and a liquid," Cyborg answered. "But gaseous xynothium doesn't have that many uses. What I'm saying is: I'm pretty sure that loopy gas isn't Robin's design."

"Of course it isn't," Starfire said defensively. "Robin would never-" –hurt anyone. Except that Red X _was_ Robin. Pain throbbed in her head suddenly. "If you will excuse me, I am still feeling tired. I wish to retire to my room. And not be disturbed," Starfire added quickly.

"Yeah, sure." Beast Boy stepped out of the way and Starfire walked to her room. Once she got there she threw took a few breaths to calm herself down. She was about to sit down on her bed and find Raven to meditate with when she caught sight of herself in the mirror. She looked the same as always, clean, put together, except that her hair was slightly disheveled and she had a cut on her bottom lip.

She traced her tongue over it and tasted the metallic tang of blood under the surface. That sparked her anger. She was going to go to Red X's apartment, and if Robin was there, he was going to explain to her exactly why he was being such a klorbag.

Starfire threw open her window and rocketed out of the building. She made her way to the southwest side of town, stopping at the familiar apartment building with the worn red brick façade.

She was able to slip into the building behind a resident, who stared at her as she went by them. She didn't care. She paused at the door to his room. She considered tearing the door down, but she didn't tell her friends about this, and seeing something like "Alien Titan Destroys Jump City Apartment Building" plastered on the front page of some newspaper seemed like a bad way for them to find out.

So she took another breath to calm herself and knocked on the door. When no one answered, she began to think that maybe she was wrong. Maybe he really _was _in Gotham. Starfire tried the door knob, and it yielded under her touch. She pulled the door open and it stuck at the chain, which she quickly dispatched with a quick shot of her eyebeams. She stepped inside.

She crept through the apartment, observing it this time. It looked pretty lived in. She saw the bedroom door swung half open and an assortment of dirty clothes- civilian clothes- were flung around the room, which was very uncharacteristic of Robin. She could see the kitchenette, with dirty dishes piled around the sink, and another half closed door. She pushed it open gingerly and shrieked in surprise when a fist came her way. She ducked just in time and the fist hooked through the air.

"Robin!" she gasped. "It is I,Starfire, your friend!" She righted herself. He was wearing his Red X suit sans mask. His hair was wet and a towel lay draped across the sink. Both of his masks sat on top of the tank of the toilet. Her blood froze. She'd never seen his eyes before, not even since they started dating. They were such a dark brown that she couldn't tell where his pupils ended and his irises began.

He spun around a put his domino mask on. He whirled at her again, shouting, "What did you see?"

She backed against a corner, eyes wide. "What do you mean?" she asked shakily.

"Did you see my eyes?" he hissed, squeezing her arm just above the elbow.

"Robin, please! You are hurting my arm!" she whimpered. He was really frightening her.

He put his face up close to hers. "Did. You. See. My. Eyes," he hissed, putting a good amount of space between each word without letting up on his grip on her arm.

"N-no!" she managed, feeling compelled to lie. She was almost as shocked by the fact that she was lying to him as she was by his demeanor. Anger pierced through her. He was making her lie. His odd mood and his inexcusable behavior and his stupid obsession with criminals and upholding justice were all making her so angry that she could barely see.

His face, which was a twisted mask of fury a second ago, relaxed into relief, and then realization. "Oh, God. Star, I'm sorry. I-"

She put up her hand. "Robin, do not. I will not stay here to be shouted at by you."

He looked pained. "You have to understand, Starfire. My secret identity- it's not- I'm not-" he stuttered.

Starfire narrowed her eyes at him. "I do not care to hear any excuse you might have. I do not wish to speak to you right now." She turned away from him to leave, but he caught her wrist in a much gentler grip than he used before.

"Starfire," he said, spinning her around, "I love you. Please, stay and talk to me. I love you."

She felt strangely disconnected, as though she was watching this on TV. "I thought I loved you, too, Robin, but I feel as though I do not even _know_ you. Release me."

"Starfire, _please_," he begged.

"Release me," she repeated, her voice icy, "or I will blow a hole in the wall and leave that way. Do you understand?"

He looked at her like a kicked puppy and let go of her wrist. "I love you," he said again.

"I heard you the first time," Starfire answered as she walked toward the door. She was struck by the fact that of all the times he'd said it, she'd never said it back. It made her a little sad. She exited the apartment and closed the door calmly behind her, then tore through the hallway and almost shot down the door so that she wouldn't have to slow down.

She returned to her room and burrowed under the covers of her bed before allowing herself to break down in loud tears, vaguely hoping that none of her teammates would hear her, but not really caring.

She should go to her friends now and tell them about Red X. She should have done that from the start. They would hate her for not saying anything in the first place. She knew they would forgive her in the end. She couldn't say the same thing for Robin. They all, herself included, were so angry with him the first time. What if this pushed him over the edge?

She knew the answer. She'd seen it. He'd become jaded and alone. The thought made her cry even more. She still cared about him. She didn't think she could ever stop. She loved him so much it hurt.

Silkie made one of his Silkie-noises and she poked her head out of her burrow of covers. He rubbed his forehead against her cheek and she rubbed him between the eyes, which made him make a rumbling sound that sort of resembled a purr.

After a few minutes, when her crying dissolved into soft hiccups, she wiped her face with a towel and inspected herself in the mirror on her dresser. Her eyes were puffy and her face was blotchily flushed. The cut on her lower lip stood out angrily. She dusted Tamaranean makeup over her face and she looked a lot better.

A few minutes later, when she had outwardly collected herself, there was a soft knock on her door. "Star? Starfire?"

Her stomach dropped. Her teammates must have heard her crying. She opened her door just enough so that her friends could see her face.

"We know you're not feeling too good, but we were just talking and… We should probably contact Robin about this. Red X got away with the pearls. Bruce Wayne's pearls. Our biggest investor." Cyborg groaned at what he perceived to be his own failure.

"Yeah, so we were gonna vid chat him out in the main room. You don't have to come out if you're not feeling up to it, but we just wanted to run it by you first. We're a team, and we didn't want to do this without the whole team knowing about it," Beast Boy explained.

Starfire was considering begging them not to call him, but then she realized that if he was at the Tower, she could finally confront him once and for all about the whole Red X business. "Oh yes," she answered forcefully, "I think you should call him. I think you should call him and tell him to come back home as soon as possible."

Cyborg nodded. "Yeah, that's what we thought, too. Do you wanna come out for the video call?"

Starfire shook her head quickly. "No, no. I am still feeling ill."

The boys shrugged and turned to go back to the ops room. Raven lingered in front of Starfire's door. She was staring at her.

"Raven?" Starfire asked. "Are you okay?"

"Starfire," Raven choked. Starfire was alarmed to find that Raven sounded close to tears. The empath cleared her throat and started again, and her tone was a little smoother. "Why are you-? I mean, is everything okay with you?"

Starfire nodded wordlessly.

Raven sighed, sounding distressed. "Okay. If you want to talk about anything… Please let me know." She floated dejectedly down the hall after Cyborg and Beast Boy.

Starfire was left staring after her. She knew better than anyone about Raven's empathic powers, but she had never seen them manifest themselves so clearly. She felt a stab of guilt for lying to Raven, but she would reveal everything to her friends tomorrow. As soon as Robin got back.

**I know Starfire has been crying a lot lately. I don't mean for you guys to think that I'm writing her as weak. I don't think she is at all. I just think that she is quick to manifest her emotions physically- through hugging or crying or whatever way is relevant- in an unreserved way. Thoughts?**

He kissed her on the forehead and turned to leave, but she caught him by the hand as he was turning.

"Stay," she blurted out quickly.

"What?"

"Please. I am aware that we agreed not to sleep in the same bed for a while… but please. Just tonight." She made her expression as soft as possible to try to convince him.

"I can't…" he said gently, tucking her hair behind her ear.

She interrupted him by brushing her lips against his. "Please?"

Robin sighed. "That's not fair. Fine, I'll stay here. Just don't get used to getting your own way. Princess," he added with a smirk.

**I know it's a short teaser this chapter, but there's a reason for that.**


	7. Chapter 7

**This is the big turning point in the story! Ooh! Enjoy this chapter, guys. It has a lot of plot. **

That morning, Starfire exited her room and almost walked right into Robin, "Robin!" she shouted, her voice tinged by fear and excitement and hurt and happiness, all at once.

"Hey," he said softly. He glanced around like he was afraid someone was watching them. "Can we go in your room?"

She furrowed her brow at him. As much as she didn't really want to be in a room alone with him right now, she thought that she should talk to him about it before telling the rest of the team. It was only fair. She nodded and they disappeared inside.

"You keep coming back early in the morning before anyone else wakes up," she said just to say something.

"Yeah," he agreed distractedly. "Well, actually, Raven's awake. I already spoke to her."

Starfire didn't try to make conversation again. He seemed distracted and nervous. The last time he acted like this, he asked her to be his girlfriend. Well, he mostly implied that he wanted her to be his girlfriend. She couldn't imagine what he had to say to her this time. Maybe an apology, but it wouldn't change anything.

He touched her lip distractedly where he'd bitten it the other day. It was just starting to scab. The gesture was carried out with a look of concern. It made her want to bat his hand away. He lowered his hand and began talking.

"Look, Star, I was thinking… When I said that I love you…" his voice died out and he coughed and pressed on. "I hadn't thought about it. I wasn't even thinking about it when I said it. But I do. Love you, I mean." He coughed.

She looked at him in surprise. She had forgotten about that, with everything else that was going on. "Oh."

He looked at her helplessly, like he was hoping that she would say something a little more conversational, but she was too confused to even attempt to encourage him. "And I was thinking… If I really do love you, than you should know… You should know me. You should know who I am."

She narrowed her eyes at him. Yesterday he said something about his secret identity. She didn't realize that it was bothering him so much. Maybe that was why he freaked out so badly. "Robin?" she asked, urging him to clarify what he meant.

"Starfire… My name is Richard Grayson. Dick for short. I was in a circus act with my parents, but they… they died and Batman adopted me." He paused and looked at her nervously.

"Batman is your father?" She asked.

"Yeah," he answered with a wry smile. "That explains a few things, doesn't it?"

Starfire just nodded.

"And," he continued, "I think you should know, I have blue eyes."

Starfire didn't know what to say. Just yesterday he was having a breakdown because she saw his eyes, and today he was telling her all about it. "Robin," she said softly, "I do not know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know that I trust you. I was thinking that I shouldn't be-"

"Robin," Starfire interrupted him slowly. "Forgive me, but what color did you say your eyes were?"

He furrowed his brow at her. "Blue," he answered, sounding confused. "Are you-?"

"May I see?" she asked, trying to hide the quiver in her voice.

He looked baffled, but he just nodded and peeled his mask away from his face. Bright blue eyes that reminded Starfire of the sky over Russia winked out at her. She froze. Her brain stopped. Her _heart_ stopped. She raised a shaking hand to her mouth. Tears stung at her eyes, which already stung and itched from crying so much yesterday. The corners of her eyes burned as soon as the salt touched them.

Robin looked even more baffled. "Starfire? What's the matter?"

She couldn't answer. She didn't get a good look in yesterday, but there was no mistaking it. Red X had very dark eyes. Robin's were bright. How could she tell him that she'd been fooled by his worst mistake? Or that for the entirety of the time they'd been dating, she had been cheating on him on a technicality? What if he was upset that she thought that he would return to the Red X suit? She cried even harder. She turned away from him and sat on her bed. She didn't know how she could possibly talk her way out this. She wouldn't, anyway. She would not lie to Robin.

He kneeled on the bed next to her and cradled her to his chest. She clung to his shirt. "Hey, listen, it's okay. I'm here. Just tell me what-"

"I cannot," she sobbed into his chest.

Gently but firmly he took her face in his hands and tilted her chin until she was looking at him. He brushed her hair away from her cheeks where it stuck to the wet trails. "Yes, you can," he soothed.

She gulped away a fresh batch of tears and wiped at her eyes with her wrist. As much as she didn't want to, she disentangled herself from his arms and faced him. "I believed that you were the Red X."

He looked at her like she'd just sprouted another head. "I know. That was months ago, though, and you don't have to keep beating yourself up about it."

"No," she said desperately, "Robin, I believed you to be the Red X recently."

His mouth dropped open and he raised one eyebrow at her. "How recently?"

Starfire covered her face with her hand. "Until just now."

"What?" Starfire felt her stomach plummet with dread. She could hear the indignation in his voice.

"Until just-"

"I heard you," he snapped. He took a breath to steady himself. "I _told_ you that I wasn't Red X anymore. I was there when we fought him! He _beat_ me! Why would you think that I was him?"

"Because he told me that he was you," she answered. Her voice was little more than a self-pitying squeak.

"What?" Robin croaked in disbelief.

"He told me that he was-"

"Starfire, I _heard_ you. When did he say that?"

"I am not sure… Two weeks ago?"

"Two weeks? Why didn't you say anything to me?" he demanded.

Fresh tears escaped from her eyes. "He told me not to." She almost hated herself. She was so stupid. That had to sound even dumber to Robin than it did to her.

Robin took in a breath like he was about to say something, then closed his mouth. "Of course he would have. But why didn't you?"

Starfire covered her eyes with her hands again, wiping at them in futility. "He told me that he was only Red X so that you- he- could observe criminals in their own setting. So that he could understand them through action. And he said that if I brought it up to you, you would not be able to keep the two identities separate."

"But… didn't you want to talk to me about it?" he asked, not understanding her train of thought at all.

"I did not want to lose you," she whispered. "I am sorry. I should have known that it was an imitation."

Robin pulled her into his arms again. "Starfire, it's okay. I'm not mad at you."

Starfire hoped that he wasn't just saying that to get her to stop crying, because she was so relieved that a new flood of tears cascaded down her cheeks. Robin stopped his constant barrage of questions and let her cry, occasionally wiping at her face or smoothing back her hair. When she calmed down enough to gather herself, she sat up to face him again. "I apologize. I know that on Earth, crying is a sign of weakness. But on Tamaran, we are ruled by our emotions. It is a habit."

Robin kissed her quickly. He was very tense, and Starfire could imagine that he was itching to _do_ something rather than sit in her room and talk to her, and she appreciated him more than she could put into words. "It's okay, Starfire. I don't mind."

She wasn't sure whether or not he was lying, but she was glad he said it, regardless. "I am a terrible friend who is a girl."

"No, you're not," Robin assured her. "You're actually probably a better one than I deserve."

He fixed his mask back in place, suddenly all business. "Why would he do that, though? What was his goal?"

Starfire squeezed her eyes shut regretfully. "Robin?" she squeaked. He turned his attention to her. "When I thought that Red X was you, I may have allowed him to initiate lip contact."

He stared at her. "What?"

"I allowed him to-"

"Yeah, Star, I heard you," he interrupted. His voice was shaking.

"Robin?" she called, alarmed.

He didn't answer her. He chewed his lip thoughtfully. "I guess that sheds some light on the motive."

Starfire's eyes widened. "You believe that all of this was a ploy for… for lip contact?"

He looked at her, but didn't answer right away. His brows were knitted in deep thought. "I really hope not. It's a possibility, though." He paused. "If you kissed him, doesn't that mean you saw his face? Can't you give me a description?"

Starfire paused. She tried to remember his face from the quick glance she caught of it yesterday, but she was so concentrated on his eyes that she couldn't pull up an image of his whole face. She shook her head. "He was wearing your mask. He looked like you."

"What about a voice? Anything?" Robin quizzed her desperately.

"He sounded like you! Robin, the mimicry was very thorough. I was even suspicious that he was not you at one point, and he convinced me that he was." He had to understand that she wouldn't just think it was him because she was told, didn't he? "I even saw him in your uniform once."

Robin sighed in frustration. "Okay. Red X stole my old suit, copied my uniform, my mask, and my voice, and kissed my girlfriend. I don't think that anybody would do all that just for lip contact." He paused thoughtfully. "Well, maybe Control Freak."

Starfire made a strangling noise in her throat. Robin smirked at her in spite of the seriousness of the situation. "Come on," he ordered, standing and tugging at her hand.

"Where are we-?"

"Investigation room. I want to update his files. I should have done that before I came here anyway, with him stealing the pearls, but I wanted to see you first," he answered.

"The pearls? Did Raven tell you-?"

"When someone steals something from Bruce Wayne, I kind of take it personally." He walked quickly through the halls, but it was easy for Starfire to keep pace with him. Being annoyingly tall had its benefits sometimes. He pushed open the door to the investigation room and pulled a stool out from under the table. He perched on it like he would have to jump into action at any second and started clacking at the keyboard on his laptop.

Starfire waited patiently while he filled in information. "So, he's gotta be around my height, right? Black hair, but that doesn't mean anything…" he muttered to himself.

"Dark eyes," Starfire murmured.

Robin glanced back at her, pausing in his typing. "Thanks." He didn't turn back around right away. She tilted her head at him, silently asking a question. "Come here," he said softly.

Starfire walked over to him and he pushed the stool away. He kissed her softly. "I'm sorry that you got dragged into this." He slipped his left arm around her waist and maneuvered the mouse with the other.

"This is the kind of data we use to keep track of which villains might be which civilians. It's usually pretty accurate, but I've had no luck with Slade or Red X. Maybe this will help."

Starfire peered at the monitor. A picture of Red X was on the left side of the screen, and on the right was a list of physical traits: height, weight, race, hair color, eye color… There was also room for any outstanding characteristics, under which Robin had filled in advanced martial arts. He clicked a button at the bottom of the screen and waited impatiently as hundreds of faces whizzed across the screen, getting selected or discarded. After about a minute, the faces trickling across the screen began to slow down. The monitor froze completely on an image of Robin's face.

He swore viciously. Starfire jumped and looked at him with wide eyes. "I hate it when it does that," he informed her as an excuse for his language.

"That happens often?" She asked, slipping out from under his arm.

Robin shrugged. "We should call a meeting. We _have_ to bring Red X in. We can't let him keep doing this. He's targeting us as a team now."

"Robin, we have never been able to catch Red X before. The closest we got was when you stole his belt, and he just stole it back," Starfire pointed out softly.

"I know. But now we're going to have a plan in advance. Is there any way you can manipulate Red X into coming to you?" Robin demanded, drumming his fingers on the table.

"I know where his apartment is," Starfire answered.

Robin frowned, thinking. "I really don't want to bring a fight to an apartment. I'd prefer to get him away from residential areas. If we can."

"I believe that I can think of something," Starfire assured him.

"We should probably call a meeting, lay out some groundwork for a plan…"

"Actually, Robin, I would prefer it if our friends did not know about my involvement with Red X," Starfire mumbled sheepishly.

Robin sighed. "I told you, it's okay. Red X is a criminal mastermind. His manipulation techniques are apparent even in the way he wields his weapons."

"I know that. But I still wish to keep it between you and me. Please." Her voice was firm rather than pleading.

Robin nodded. "Fine. Whatever you want." He turned back to his laptop and shut it down. "Are you okay?" he asked softly, stepping close to his girlfriend.

"I am now," she answered with a smile, leaning her head against his shoulder.

Robin threaded his fingers through her hair and stroked them through it. He tilted her head up so that she was looking at him and abandoned her hair to gently trace his thumb over the cut on her lip. She flinched. "Was that Red X?"

"Robin, please. I do not wish to talk about it," she told him firmly as she took his fingers away from her lip.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I don't, either." He put his hand on the back of her neck and kissed her gently, running his tongue over the cut on her lip soothingly. She slipped her hands between his shirt and his cape and clutched at his cape for support as a familiar wave of giddy dizziness made her limbs go numb.

* * *

Starfire flew through the air over Jump City, feeling a little nervous. She and Robin decided to leave Red X a heartfelt note, which she just delivered by sliding it under his apartment door.

She basically apologized for getting angry and asked him to come to her room tonight. The alarm system would be disabled and her window would be open.

She shivered. The California weather wasn't cold, she just felt really anxious about this. Even though it was her choice not to tell her friends about it, she felt guilty. She was also nervous about Red X- whoever he was- coming into her room.

She entered her room through the window. Robin was sitting on her bed, waiting for her. Silkie was sprawled out on his back next to him and Robin was petting the larva's stomach absently. She landed softly on her pink carpet.

"Everything went okay?" he asked, giving Silkie a final pat before standing.

"Of course," Starfire answered.

"Okay. Great. The alarms'll be down, but remember that I'll be just outside your door." He stepped closer to kiss her goodnight, but she ducked away from him. He raised an eyebrow at her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." His expression didn't change. He ignored her answer and was waiting for a better one. "I am simply nervous," she explained.

"Don't be," Robin said soothingly. "If worse comes to worse, you can always send me a text on the T-comm. But I promise, I'll be right outside. Just stall him until I get here. Try to put yourself between him and the window."

He kissed her on the forehead and turned to leave, but she caught him by the hand as he was turning.

"Stay," she blurted out quickly.

"What?"

"Please. I am aware that we agreed not to sleep in the same bed for a while… but please. Just tonight." She made her expression as soft as possible to try to convince him.

"I can't be in here when Red X gets here," he said gently, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Please," Starfire repeated. "Can you not stay hidden if the rest of the room is dark?"

Robin couldn't exactly argue against that. "Yeah, I guess, but it would really be more prudent if-"

She interrupted him by brushing her lips against his. "Please?"

Robin sighed. "That's not fair. Fine, I'll stay here. Just don't get used to getting your own way. Princess," he added with a smirk.

Starfire's heart dropped like a stone. "What?" she demanded, her voice tinged with panic.

Robin's eyes widened in alarm. "What? What happened?"

She reached up and lifted his mask away from his face. She wilted with relief when blue eyes peered at her with a mixture of concern and confusion. She tossed her arms around his neck, still clutching his mask. "I apologize. Something you said alarmed me." Robin and Red X were more similar than she thought.

"That's okay. Let's put you to bed," Robin murmured, taking his mask from her hand. He sat on her duvet and pulled her onto his lap. She clasped her fingers together at the back of his neck and let her hair fall in front of his face, making it feel like they were behind a curtain.

**Aha! Finally! How many of you called it? Did I do a good job of covering it up? I'm not very good at writing mystery stuff, or being sneaky or anything like that, so I just hope I didn't fail miserably. It's hard to tell when you know the big twist from the beginning. I know I sort of cheated with last chapter's teaser, but… It was really hard to find one that didn't completely give away the whole plot for this chapter!**

He punched a button and the black jumpsuit and tattered cape retracted into the belt, which he then unclipped and tossed at Starfire. She caught it reflexively and it shocked her. She shouted in pain and collapsed to the ground.

Now he looked identical to Robin. He wore the same uniform down to every last detail. Cyborg looked from Robin to Red X and back again.

"I should'a stayed in bed," he groaned. He equipped his sonic cannon and shot at Red X, who immediately jumped into the air and leaped toward Robin. They rolled over each other until Starfire couldn't keep track of who was who.

Cyborg looked at Starfire helplessly. "What do we do?" he demanded anxiously.

"Um…?" she offered sagely.

"Just shoot!" one of the Robins growled.

"Are you the good Robin or the bad Robin?" Cyborg asked, rubbing his head.

"The good one! Fire! Go!" he shouted, holding the other in place.

Cyborg aimed and paused doubtfully. "That's what the bad Robin would say…"


	8. Chapter 8

**Guys. This chapter is long. Actually, I was planning on ending the story at this chapter, but I realized about a third of the way through that I wouldn't be able to. (There are two more chapters after this.) Enjoy it! And if it gets too long… take a break and come back in a few minutes.**

_Tap. Tap, tap, tap. _Starfire gasped propping herself up on her elbows. She glanced nervously to her right, where Robin was laying when she finally fell into a troubled sleep. The spot looked slept-in, but there was no other sign that he was even in the room anymore.

She floated over to the window, pushing it open and closing it after Red X stepped in. "I'm glad you wanted to see me. You should have just come to the apartment, though. It would have been easier."

"Yes, well…" she gulped, stalling for time. Lying did not come easily to her. "I did not want the others to notice that I was gone. And I was not sure you would be there. You are supposed to be in Gotham right now."

"Star, you know by now that when I say that I'm doing something that takes me away from you, it's just so that I can work on Red X." He put his hand on her shoulder.

She shrugged him off, pretending to be angry with him, but really she felt uneasy about his touch. "I wish for that to stop." It was easier if she pretended that she thought he really was Robin. She thought of it as acting.

"I told you, Starfire. Soon."

"When?" She wished Robin would come out. Maybe he wanted Red X farther away from the window, just in case. She pulled a pouty face and stepped away from him.

"I don't know. If I hang up the suit before I get closure, I'll just go back to it again. I'd rather just keep doing this for a little while longer, then end it so I can concentrate more time on you." He stepped closer to her like she thought he would.

"You are just trying to make me forget to be angry with you." She looked around, pretending to look away from him out of anger while she was really searching for Robin.

He put his index finger under her chin and made her look back at him. "So what if I am?"

He backed her up against the wall. Was Robin still in the room? Where was he? Starfire looked over Red X's shoulder. It was dark in her room, and if Robin wanted to stay hidden she knew that there was no way she would find him.

Red X put a hand on her hip and another on the wall next to her head. Her gaze flicked back to him. She put her hands up to push him away when Robin seemed to appear out of thin air, standing casually where before there was only empty space. He was engulfed in the blackness of his cape, which he closed at the front. He put his fingers to his lips and mimed taking off a mask.

Starfire smoothly slid her hands from Red X's chest and rested her knuckles against the back of his neck, turning her gesture to push him away into one to bring him closer. She could feel his breath through his mask on her face as she slipped her fingers between his mask and the neck of his jumpsuit.

He started to draw away slightly. "Not here," he said firmly, pushing her back against the wall.

Starfire glanced over his shoulder again, but Robin had melted back into the shadows. She tugged on Red X's shoulders. "You do not wish to engage in the activity of prolonged lip contact?" she asked, trying to sound playful.

He leaned close to her again and she put her hands back on his shoulders. "Let's go back to the apartment." He leaned even closer, pressing her into the wall. She forced herself not to shrink back. "Where we won't be interrupted."

"After just one kiss," she purred.

He squinted at her. After a second, he relaxed. "Fine. Who am I to deny the Princess?"

Starfire almost sighed in relief. If he said no, she wasn't sure what she would do. She worked the mask off with shaking fingers. Before she could even fully draw it off his head, he leaned forward and caught her lips with his, running his tongue over the spot he bit the other day. When Robin did the same thing earlier, it felt soothing and gentle. When Red X did it, it seemed kind of possessive. Maybe because it felt like Red X was reestablishing that he'd done it in the first place. She yanked the mask away from his hair, which spiked up, and tossed it to approximately where Robin was standing before.

She heard a familiar rustling of material and almost went limp when Red X tore away from her. Robin, always with a flair for the dramatic, stood with his arm outstretched and the mask caught perfectly between his fingers, hanging from his hand like a decapitated head. Starfire's knees buckled and she slumped against the wall, concentrating on breathing in fresh air.

She looked from boy to boy in something of a daze. Red X looked identical to Robin from the neck up, from the domino mask fitted just over his cheek bones to the carefully spiked hair to the angry expression.

He stared down at Starfire, eyes wide. "Low blow, Princess," he murmured, ducking as Robin came up from behind and aimed a punch at the thief's head. Red X ducked and fell onto his arms, kicking his legs out behind him. Robin sidestepped the kick and grabbed Red X's legs, spinning his entire body and letting go of the villain. He crashed against the wall opposite Robin and Starfire.

"Are you okay?" Robin asked, offering her his hand to help her up.

Before she could answer, Red X grabbed a bunch of x-shaped shuriken from his belt. He threw a few of them fiercely at Robin and Starfire yanked on his outstretched hand to pull him down to the floor with her. She fired a few starbolts at him. He launched himself away, using the wall to propel himself. Robin extended his bo-staff before heading toward Starfire's door. He threw a bird-a-rang in the way, intending to stop Red X.

Red X caught the bird-a-rang easily and tossed it back at Robin, who deflected it with the staff.

"You'll have to do better than that, Chuckles," Red X mocked with a sneer.

Robin swung his bo-staff with an angry yell. Red X teleported away, reappearing almost instantly on Robin's left. Red X landed a punch which threw Robin against the wall. Red X descended on him, grabbing him by the collar. He wore a smirk, like was amused by the whole situation. "What's the matter, kiddo? She tell you I was a better kisser?"

Robin kicked Red X, which didn't help except to put a little bit of space between them. Starfire shot a few starbolts in their direction, nailing Red X twice. She hovered over him. "Why have you been lying about your identity and deceiving me in such a manner?"

Instead of answering, he pushed the button in the middle of his belt. He disappeared from under her. The alarm for the rest of the Tower kicked on then.

"Starfire, you've got to head him off. Don't let him out. I want him in jail. Tonight. I'm going to the ops room to put in the manual override. At least that way he can't get out."

"Of course," she responded with a serious nod. She hovered and was about to leave.

"Wait," he commanded. She didn't land, but she tilted her head at him. He sounded like he wanted to confess something, but all he said was, "The suit can't teleport more than twenty feet."

Starfire nodded again. She wondered if this was because Robin didn't have the technology to make it go farther, but suspected that that was one of the only features Robin had built into the suit for troubleshooting purposes. She started on her way out the door, and just as she crossed out of the threshold, Robin said her name very softly. She landed this time, getting anxious.

"Just be careful, okay?" He sounded annoyed for a reason which Starfire could not fathom.

"I will," she answered, and then she flew down the hall. Since Robin was going to the ops room, Starfire tried the next open space she could think of- the weight room. It was a little bit more than twenty feet away, but she didn't know where else he would go.

The red lights were still flashing, but they did little to aid her vision. It almost made it worse, like the pitch black between every blink of a strobe. But it was slower, which meant that as soon as he eyes adjusted to the red light, she was thrown into blackness again. She decided to play dumb to get their guest come out of hiding. "Robin?" she called, hoping that Red X would try to attack her while she was looking for help.

She didn't think he would hurt her, really. If given the opportunity, he might knock her out. She wasn't really afraid, but she did a quick calculation. If the alarm had already been going off for around half a minute, then Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy were already in the ops room, waiting for Robin to show up to brief them. Or, Robin could be calling Cyborg on the communicator now and they were on their way to her. Then it would be four on one. Unless Cyborg stayed to help Robin lock down the tower. The fact that even if that happened it would still be three on one did little to reassure Starfire. He'd thrashed them every time they went up against him, even if it was five on one.

"Robin?" she called again. The air in front of her broke into waves, like in summer when it's really hot, but the waves started getting darker. Starfire let solar energy flare in her, lighting up her eyes.

She was slammed into the wall so hard, she could hear the drywall crack a little. Red X was looming over her with his right hand balled into a fist, his forearm across her throat. Since he angled her down, she had to grab his arm to support herself so that she wouldn't choke. His left arm was resting casually against the wall. She stared at the tattered cape, which brushed just above his ankles.

"How long have you known?" he hissed.

Even though she should have taken the opportunity to blast him with eyebeams, she squeezed her eyes shut. _Not Robin, not Robin, not Robin… _She knew that this was not Robin, she knew that this was Red X, a criminal who had fooled her embarrassingly in a bizarre and psychopathic way to lash out at Robin. But he sounded so much like him.

"Open your eyes," he said coldly. He increased the pressure on her throat and she complied, still repeating _Not Robin_ in her head. She opened her eyes and gave him what she hoped was a dark glare, but really, she felt as though a splinter was stuck in her stomach and it was getting twisted…

No wonder she was fooled. He looked so much like Robin, it was unbelievable. Maybe his jaw was a little slimmer, and his mouth had a bit of a different shape, and his cheekbones were a little more defined, but the simple domino mask covered up the subtle differences really effectively. _Not Robin, not Robin, not Robin… _Saying it didn't make the betrayed feeling go away. It didn't make the ache stop.

"I… trusted you," she said, dropping the stoic act.

He widened his eyes in surprise, a gesture that looked so familiar on him that her resolve was cracked even more. "Starfire…" and with that her resolve completely shattered.

He sounded so gentle and caring, and so lost. It was exactly the same combination of emotions she'd heard in Robin's voice so many times, and on the same word. His forearm came away from her throat. He reached his hand up and traced his index finger over her cheek. He leaned forward and his lips were almost touching hers. Her mind went blank and she wanted to let him kiss her. His lips touched hers, and she was so close to giving up, that static that came from just kissing rising in her stomach.

Then her chant blasted through her head: _Not Robin, not Robin, not Robin! _She charged a starbolt in her eyes, releasing her anger at him with a shout.

He ducked wildly, reacting in perfect time to avoid getting shot. He must have remembered from last time.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

An orb of black energy swallowed up Red X's torso and slammed into the corner where the wall and ceiling met. However, by the time the black orb collided with the wall, Red X was gone.

"You okay?" Raven asked, her face clouded with concern.

"I am fine."

Beast Boy flitted into the room as a bird and morphed into human form. "Doesn't this dude ever sleep?" he complained to the girls with a yawn.

"Sorry. Did I disturb your beauty sleep?"

Beast Boy turned and flinched as an X from Red X's glove came at him from behind. Raven blocked it using a shield of dark energy. He relaxed as the shield disappeared and the X clattered to the ground, but as it hit it ripped an X shaped hole through the floor. Beast Boy teetered on the edge before falling through.

The red lights stopped flashing and the hallway was thrown into complete darkness as steel grates slid loudly into plates and locked over the windows. Eerie emergency lights flicked on, but they were spaced far apart and the lighting was poor unless they stood directly underneath them.

Without skipping a beat, Red X shot an X at Raven, who had flown over the hole in the ground to see if Beast Boy was alright. Starfire shot it away from her and lunged at him, but he teleported away and appeared behind Raven.

Starfire gasped and pointed, but Raven was too slow. Red X raised his hand above her head-

-and was shot back by a blue shot of pure sound. "WHO LET YOU IN MY TOWER?" Cyborg shouted, cannon smoking.

Red X looked around him. He was surrounded by the four remaining Titans. Instead of reacting the way any normal person who valued their face the way it looked currently, he stretched his arms out and curled his fingers back toward his wrist, a gesture that said, _Come and get me._

Everyone was still for a moment, until Robin clicked the button on his bo-staff, crying, "Titans, go!"

Red X squeezed his fingers against his palms, making both wrist blades pop out. He ducked under Cyborg's blasts and slid toward him like a baseball player, his momentum carrying him until he was close enough to punch him, which he did. While the punch wasn't that effective, he activated the spinning component of his wrist blade, cutting a nasty gash in Cyborg's armor.

Robin advanced on him next, circling slowly. Suddenly, he turned and threw a bird-a-rang, which X deflected with his blade. The bird-a-rang spun on the spokes before ricocheting and hitting Raven. Red X smiled. "Thanks, Chuckles. I didn't even plan that one." Then he frowned. "Don't make it too easy, now."

Robin threw his bo-staff at Red X, who dodged easily, and it stuck fast in the wall. He quirked an eyebrow at Robin. "What are you-?"

Ignoring him, Robin jumped over his head, landed on the staff, and flipped backwards at Red X. He brought his legs down powerfully on the thief's back. Red X got the wind knocked out of him and Robin pinned him down. "Why are you impersonating me? Who are you?" he growled.

Red X rolled over and slammed Robin into the wall, punctuating his impact with a kick. He slumped to the floor, unmoving. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"He is not the only one who is curious as to your identity," Starfire said, eyes narrowed and glowing.

"Ah, Princess!" he greeted with a smile, as though he hadn't seen her in a long time and just ran into her at the grocery store. "Don't you find a little secrecy between couples exciting? Maybe a little sexy?"

She shot starbolts at him in rapid succession by holding her hands in front of her and balling her fists, touching them together for better aim. He dodged each of them as they came and slipped under her, making a break for the end of the hallway to duck behind the wall.

He was cut off by Raven. "You can't escape until we lift the lockdown codes. You might as well surrender."

"Is it like me at all to give up at the first sign of a challenge, Sunshine? It's like you guys don't even know me!"

Starfire shook her hands out. They were smoking slightly and she was feeling drained. She just needed a minute to recharge.

Coming from nowhere, Beast Boy, in the shape of a ram, headbutted Red X from behind. He let out a grunt and narrowly missed being slammed into the wall by his own expertise. He rolled with the blow and rolled off the wall, stopping at a crouch.

"This is getting a little old. Sorry, kids." He shot an X from his glove that expanded as it was released into the air. One corner of the X stuck onto Beast Boy and the opposite corner snagged Raven from the air. Then it contracted rapidly, lifting Beast Boy from his feet as he changed back into a human and it pulled Raven from the air. They slammed face first into each other and rolled onto their sides.

Red X observed the scene, satisfied with himself. "Actually, I'm not sorry. Let's go, Princess," he commanded calmly, walking through the mostly wrecked hall and grabbing Starfire's arm, pulling her to her feet.

"Go?" she asked, astonished. "Where do you plan on going? We are locked inside!"

"We were in the middle of a conversation," he reminded her as he steered her toward the ops room.

Starfire glanced back at her friends. Cyborg was stirring, but he was fussing over his armor, which was leaking oil and small metallic pieces, which might be bolts or screws. She hoped that Red X hadn't sliced through anything very important. She thought she saw Robin start to move but she couldn't be sure. Raven and Beast Boy were stuck together, arguing and attempting to stand.

"They're fine," Red X assured her. Red X walked her to the ops room, never taking his hand away from her arm just over her elbow. He wasn't being rough with her, but she felt like she was being walked by gunpoint. Her powers weren't fully restored yet, and she decided to wait until he made an aggressive move to fight him again. She wanted her powers to recharge a little. He sat her on the couch and stood looking down at her with his arms crossed, looking like an angry parent. "What were we saying before?"

"Uh…"

"You were saying that you trusted me." Starfire stared at him. He was acting odd, even for a bad guy. "You _can_ trust me."

She gaped at him and narrowed her eyes. "I have just watched you attack my friends while hardly putting in any effort at all!"

"Yeah, but I didn't hurt anyone," he pointed out.

"Why do you feel that you must be Red X?" she asked.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "It's a long story, and judging by how pissed Chuckles is, I don't think we have that much time."

Starfire just looked at him. She didn't know anything about him, and she obviously didn't trust him, but she did not think that he was really a bad guy. He was always careful not to harm anyone, whether it was the five Titans or any civilians, and he rarely stole anything that wasn't directly related to the suit. He certainly wasn't a good guy, but he was no Billy Numerous, either.

"If you need help, we can try to assist you," she offered, trying to guess at the story anyway.

"No, it's not that."

"But you did not even have enough money to pay for electricity!" she reminded him, remembering the first time she went to his apartment.

"Yeah, but-" The door whooshed open behind them. "Sorry about this, Star." He lunged at her and put her in a headlock, holding his wrist blade up to her throat. "Don't move."

Robin and Cyborg paused and glanced at each other unsurely. "Um, Star?" Robin asked, as if he was saying, _What are you doing? Let's go already!_

She twisted so that she was facing Red X. He looked genuinely surprised. "Now I am the one who is sorry." She shot eyebeams at him and he let go of her, grunting in pain. She picked him up and slammed him into the ground on his back. She crouched over him, squinting. "Have I used too much force?" she asked innocently.

In response, he moved his hand to his belt. Starfire, anticipating that he was about to teleport, caught his wrist with one hand and punched the belt with the other. Red sparks danced across the surface as it shorted out.

"Fine," he said moodily, "you take it then." He punched a button and the black jumpsuit and tattered cape retracted into the belt, which he then unclipped and tossed at Starfire. She caught it reflexively and it shocked her. She shouted in pain and collapsed to the ground.

Now he looked identical to Robin. He wore the same uniform down to every last detail. Cyborg looked from Robin to Red X and back again.

"I should'a stayed in bed," he groaned. He equipped his sonic cannon and shot at Red X, who immediately jumped into the air and leaped toward Robin. They rolled over each other until Starfire couldn't keep track of who was who.

Cyborg looked at Starfire helplessly. "What do we do?" he demanded anxiously.

"Um…?" she offered sagely.

"Just shoot!" one of the Robins growled.

"Are you the good Robin or the bad Robin?" Cyborg asked, rubbing his head.

"The good one! Fire! Go!" he shouted, holding the other in place.

Cyborg aimed and paused doubtfully. "That's what the bad Robin would say…"

Starfire flew over the two of them. They weren't using their weapons, but she had a sneaking suspicion that they were equipped with the same ones. There was only one way for her to really know which one was which, but she didn't think it would work. "Take off your masks, please!" She knew that at least one of them would say no, and she was planning on shooting whichever one that was.

They both glanced up at her without missing a beat in their fight. "No!" they shouted at her.

Starfire sighed and shrugged at Cyborg. She could wait until they weren't trying to kill each other and rip off the first mask she could grab, but if it was the wrong Robin, Red X could hide in the Tower while attention was diverted and possibly find a way out. It was a good backup plan, though.

One Robin kicked the other and sent him smashing into the counter. He rolled from the impact. Starfire started toward him, but glanced at the other.

The Robin by the counter unleashed circular devices from his belt, which rolled to the other's feet and exploded, but not before he handspringed out of the way.

They both drew out identical bo-staffs, clicking them to the correct length and lunging at each other.

"Am I seeing this? Is this real?" Cyborg asked.

"Uh… yes?"

One of them unleashed smoke bombs. Starfire coughed and waved her hand in front of her mouth.

"Okay, that's enough. STOP!" Cyborg shouted. A fan popped up on his shoulder and blew the smoke away. When it cleared, one Robin was tangled up in multiple layers of string. He was wrapped up in a shot from a grappling hook, unable to reach his belt to cut himself free. The other was holding the end of the gun.

"Aw, man!" Cyborg shouted, getting annoyed. "I've had enough of this! Which one of y'all is the good Robin? And more importantly, which one of you blew up my couch?!"

"I am!" they both answered quickly, ignoring the part about the couch.

Starfire landed next to Cyborg. "Okay, Star. Which one's which?"

She made an indignant sound. "How am I to know?"

"Well, you could always just go make out with both of them and get back to me about it later!" He snapped, kicking a remnant of what used to be his couch across the room.

Starfire frowned. "That is not very- look out!"

Cyborg ducked just as a bird-a-rang whizzed past where his head used to be and sunk into the wall behind him.

"Don't ever let me hear you talk to her like that again," the unrestrained Robin growled viciously.

"Okay, I think that's the real Robin," Cyborg offered, raising his cannon and aiming at the bound Robin.

Starfire narrowed her eyes. "I do not…" The Robin that was previously tied up managed to escape the binding. Starfire knew that Robin, the real Robin, would never give a criminal the chance to escape for anything less than a life-or-death situation, and he would be hesitant about that. As sweet a sentiment as shutting Cyborg up on her behalf was, Starfire didn't think that Robin would do it.

She lunged at the Robin that was still half tangled in the grappling hook wire. He didn't fight her, and she didn't know if that confirmed or contradicted her suspicions.

"Starfire," he said softly, so that only she could hear him, "as long as we're together, we'll be okay." He smiled at her. "Remember?"

"Oh, thank X'hal." She turned, still leaning over Robin, and called out to Cyborg, "I think this is the Red X."

"Why?" he looked alarmed, like he was missing out on something important.

"He has a nickname for me. Princess. He has used it now, giving himself away." She glared at Robin for effect.

Robin gaped at her. "What are you-?"

Red X looked at her suspiciously. "Starfire?"

"Robin," she said sweetly, turning to Red X with her arms outstretched, "I am very tired. Will you not apprehend this villain?"

"Uh… yeah, I will," he said, trying to sound confident.

"Glorious!" she shouted throwing her arms around his neck. She put her hands on his shoulders and shot a starbolt directly into his shoulder.

He let out a soft wheezing sound before crumpling on the ground.

"Star?" Cyborg demanded, alarmed. "What-?"

"I have pulled the fast one on Red X, did I not?" She beamed at the boys, proud of herself.

At that moment, the door whooshed open. "Ouch!" Beast Boy could be heard cringing.

Beast Boy and Raven were still stuck together, but out of sheer willpower, Raven managed to navigate over to the ops room. She glared at everyone over Beast Boy's shoulder. "Get us apart."

Robin and Cyborg glanced uneasily at each other, somewhere between amused and afraid.

"Don't worry, guys," Beast Boy chirped happily, "she secretly likes it."

"Stuff it, Logan," Raven hissed. She turned her attention back to Robin and Cyborg. "Get us apart, _now_."

They jumped into action on the last word.

**Phew! That's almost eight pages of fighting! I tried really hard not to skimp on any of the action. This chapter is the longest in this story, and it also took the longest to write. I had a few ideas for the fighting, and this is actually my second attempt at this chapter. I don't know how happy I am with how she figured out which was which. You can probably tell, but I originally had two different idea of how to do it. In the end, I decided that my first idea wasn't as good, but it still made a valid point about Robin's character, so I wanted to include it. Don't give me too much grief about Starfire needing her powers to recharge. I **_**know **_**that I totally used it as a plot device… but in **_**Go!**_** She appears to need to let her powers recharge after she shoots like a hundred at the boys. So nyeh. Also, attempted BBRae fluff… Miniscule amounts. Probably not enough for real shippers. But it's there! I promise! So anyway, I put a lot of effort into this chapter. Please let me know what you think!**

Robin made a small noise in his throat, like he was choking on something unpleasant tasting. He grabbed the boy, who seemed to be close in age to Robin and the rest of the Titans, and slammed him against the wall roughly. The chair fell over backwards with a loud thud, and Robin kicked it away angrily.

"Robin!" Starfire gasped.

Red X groaned. His dark eyes fluttered open. He arms jerked, but they were still handcuffed behind him. His face looked pained.

"What the hell!" Robin snarled at him, increasing the pressure he was using to pin him against the wall. Red X cried out, even though he was clearly trying not to.

"Robin, stop! You are hurting him!" Starfire shouted, hopping into the air and landing next to Robin, trying to pry his hands away from Red X's vest.

Robin made an irritated noise and threw him roughly to the ground. Starfire rushed to help the thief back up. "Ah, Dickie, I see you're happy to see me," Red X said smoothly in a voice identical to Robin's.


	9. Chapter 9

**In which we finally find out who Red X is! No points for guessing early. **

Red X was sitting slumped in a chair, his hands cuffed very tightly behind him, his head lolled onto his shoulders. He was still wearing Robin's uniform, although the weapons belt and gloves had been removed, along with a variety of weapons that were hidden in pockets on the suit that Robin found easily. Directly in front of him was a large utilitarian table that matched the chair. Robin was standing over him, leaning one hand on the table for leverage, glaring- just like he'd been for the past five minutes.

Beast Boy groaned and leaned his head against the thick Plexiglas that separated the interrogation room from the cell for observation. "What is he doing? He's taking forever. And I'm so… tired…" He yawned, as if to prove it to the others.

Raven narrowed her eyes and looked at Beast Boy out of the corner of her eye. "He's nervous. He takes the whole mask thing seriously."

"It's not like we're taking _his_ mask off," Beast Boy grumbled back.

"That's not the point. He feels like he's violating Red X by doing this," she explained in a tone that indicated that the conversation was over.

Beast Boy sighed and yawned again.

Cyborg put his hand on Starfire's shoulder. "Maybe you should go in there with him."

She looked up at him. She was thinking that herself, but sometimes it was hard to tell if Robin wanted to be alone or he was just pretending to want to be alone. He was very cryptic sometimes. Usually, though, she was good at reading him. She had a pretty strong notion that the fact that she wasn't sure if she wanted to be in there when Red X was unmasked had something to do with the fact that she was having a hard time interpreting his mood. But Cyborg was right. She should at least offer, and if he didn't her want there he would say so and she would come back out. No harm done.

Starfire nodded and stepped away from her friends. She was painfully aware that they were all watching her and that they would continue to watch her when she was on the other side of the glass.

"Robin?" she called softly as she walked through the bolted door. It clicked shut behind her and then a boom came from one of the many locks clicking into place. One of the other Titans would have to let them out. As a security measure, this room could only be unlocked from the outside.

He didn't turn around, and Starfire wondered if she'd made a mistake coming in here. Then she noticed that he was shaking. Almost imperceptibly- just little quivers of his clenched fists or a twitch of his shoulders gave him away. She didn't notice it before, and the others probably didn't, either.

She walked over to him and stepped between him and Red X, as though if Robin couldn't see him anymore the trance would break. "Is everything okay?"

His gaze shifted to her face. He looked at her blankly, like he couldn't understand how she got in there or even what he was doing there. "Yeah," he answered automatically.

"Do you still wish to unmask the Red X while he is unconscious?" she asked gently.

He stepped back from her and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah. I'm about to do it."

Starfire wanted to step closer to him and tell him that it was okay, that she was here to help him, that taking Red X's mask off might not be as degrading as Robin thought it would be. But he clearly wanted some space. She wished he would talk to her about it on his own, but she knew that if he had his way he would just stand there looking at her.

"You would not even take your mask off in front of Cyborg," she said softly to start him talking. She wasn't accusing him of anything; she was just stating a fact.

"It's hard for me." His voice came out kind of scratchy and unsure. "You guys don't get it. None of you wear masks. It's not just covering up an identity; it's a whole new one. Unmasking is shattering the separation. It changes _everything_."

His arms were still crossed, but Starfire noticed that he was clenching his hands into fists. "I am sure that is true, but he is not like you. You wear your mask for protection. You wear it so that you may do your job better- to do what is right. He wears his to deceive and betray without consequence." She paused. Betray might be too personal a word. She quickly switched topics. This was about Robin, not her. "He may look like you right now, Robin, but that does not mean that he stands for the same things you do."

He looked down at the ground, letting her words sink in. "You're right." Robin glanced back at the Plexiglas, which from this side looked like a mirror. He walked past Starfire until he was standing next to Red X. With a noise that sounded like tape coming off, he peeled the domino mask off, starting out slowly but then tearing it off quickly, like he was impatient. Or, and Starfire thought this was more likely, he didn't want to do it anymore and had to force himself to finish quickly.

Now that the mask was off, Starfire could see the difference between him and Robin much more clearly. To the other Titans it probably wouldn't be that obvious since they hadn't seen him without his mask on.

Robin made a small noise in his throat, like he was choking on something unpleasant tasting. He grabbed the boy, who seemed to be close in age to Robin and the rest of the Titans, and slammed him against the wall roughly. The chair fell over backwards with a loud thud, and Robin kicked it away angrily.

"Robin!" Starfire gasped.

Red X groaned. His dark eyes fluttered open. He arms jerked, but they were still handcuffed behind him. His face looked pained.

"What the hell!" Robin snarled at him, increasing the pressure he was using to pin him against the wall. Red X cried out, even though he was clearly trying not to.

"Robin, stop! You are hurting him!" Starfire shouted, hopping into the air and landing next to Robin, trying to pry his hands away from Red X's vest.

Robin made an irritated noise and threw him roughly to the ground. Starfire rushed to help the thief back up. "Ah, Dickie, I see you're happy to see me," Red X said smoothly in a voice identical to Robin's.

For a second Starfire thought Robin was really going to kill Red X. He grabbed a bird-a-rang from his belt and reared back to throw it, and she moved protectively in front of Red X. But Robin threw it at the microphone that was positioned in a section of the wall just above the Plexiglas and under the ceiling. It shorted out in a shower of sparks. The other Titans wouldn't be able to hear them anymore.

A moment later, Beast Boy opened the door, looking concerned. "What-?" he started, eyes wide with a mixture of fear and worry.

"Get out," Robin commanded. "Right now. Get out, Beast Boy. I'll call Cyborg on the communicator when we need to go out, but you need to leave." He didn't just mean leave this side of the room. He meant for Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven to leave the whole room so that they didn't watch what was about to happen.

Beast Boy's ears drooped in confusion and his mouth fell open into a surprised frown. His gaze flicked first to Starfire, who just gave a small shrug, then to Red X, and then back to Robin, who had another bird-a-rang in his hand.

"Gotcha, chief," the shape-shifter answered obediently. He closed the door behind him and the locks clicked into place.

Robin grabbed Red X by the collar, wrenching him out of Starfire's loose grip. He closed his fist around the collar of Red X's Robin tunic just under the hollow of his throat and a metallic crunching sound, followed by static, escaped through his fingers. Robin ripped his hand away, tearing the fabric a little, and held his hand out to Starfire. "This is how he changed his voice," he explained.

She moved closer to better look at what he was holding. It was a device that looked almost like a quarter, except that it was slightly convex on both sides. There were also little dimples that were so small she almost couldn't see them. "A microphone?" she asked, stunned.

Instead of answering, Robin threw it on the ground where it crackled weakly.

"I do not understand," she said with a shake of her head. "Why?"

Robin stepped back from Red X, a look of hatred on his face. "This is my brother."

Starfire felt dizzy. "Your _what_?" she asked, grabbing the edge of the table for support.

Red X scoffed. "Adopted brother," he clarified.

On some level, that made it a little better. She still felt creepy about the fact that she'd been kissing her boyfriend's _brother_. She was shocked to learn that Robin even had a brother. He'd never spoken about it.

"This is Jason. Jason Todd."

"Can you give her my phone number, too? We were in the middle of something when you interr-"

Robin slammed him in the jaw with his fist. Jason stumbled into the wall a few feet behind him. That _had_ to hurt, but to his credit, Jason hardly flinched. He struggled up again without using his arms and met Robin's gaze. "My home address is good, too. I think you know it. I'm in _your_ old room."

Robin moved so quickly that Starfire couldn't stop him. He slammed Jason into the steel-reinforced wall so hard that Starfire was afraid it would break under him. Jason went white for a second, and it looked like his eyes were going to roll back in his head, but he fought off passing out. "I'm going to beat the shit out of you," Robin announced, barely in control of his voice.

"I guess that you had to take away all my weapons and put me in handcuffs just to be able to come close to being able to carry out that threat, huh?" Jason countered smoothly, his voice level and showing no sign of the fact that he seemed to be about to pass out.

Robin sunk his fist into Jason's stomach, making him curl forward as his arms stuck out oddly behind him, before Starfire could separate them.

"Robin," she pleaded, "you must stop. With the restraints on his arms, you are doing more damage than you intend."

He struggled against her, but he was no match for her Tamaranean strength. "No," he assured her calmly, "I'm not."

"I am going to stun you if you cannot handle this," she warned him.

He glared at her, but she stayed resolute. "Don't you understand?" he snapped at her. "Can't you see what he's doing? He broke into _my_ Tower, stole _my_ suit, seduced _my_ girl, impersonated me-"

"He did not _seduce_ me!" Starfire protested indignantly.

"-stole from _my_ city," Robin continued, "harassed _my_ team-"

"That's a lot of property you've accrued since leaving Gotham," Jason remarked, sounding interested, like he was giving Robin a compliment.

"Shut your mouth," Robin snapped at him. "Don't you see what he's- _What?_" he demanded, noticing that Starfire looked quite unhappy with him. He glanced at Jason, then at Starfire again. "Oh, come on. It's not like I actually think you're _mine_. I didn't mean- _Don't you see what he's doing?!_"

"He did not seduce me, Robin," she said acidly, "I thought-" she stopped as she felt herself grow too warm. A violent blush colored her cheeks. "I do not wish to discuss that at the present."

"I do," Jason piped up from where he was now standing. "You're so pretty when you blush, Starfire," he added sweetly.

"Don't you talk to her," Robin commanded sharply.

Starfire glared at Robin. He didn't notice for a couple seconds until his took his attention off Jason. "What?" he asked irritably, not understanding why she was angry at him. "I'm not mad at you for anything he tricked you into doing."

"You are not listening to me! He did not seduce me. That implies that I was attracted to him. I thought he was you. I was never attracted to him."

"Really, princess? How about in the hallway a little while ago?" Jason reminded her smugly.

She stared at him, eyes going wide.

"What?" Robin demanded, his own eyes going wide as well. "What is he talking about?"

"She kissed me," Jason informed him with a smile.

Starfire frowned at both boys. "I did not kiss him! He kissed me."

"You let me," Jason countered quickly.

Robin tensed beside her and she put her arm out to stop him from going over to assault his brother further. "Only because you surprised me."

"Okay, Princess," he answered sarcastically with a smug, self-satisfied smile.

She shot a low-powered blast of energy from her eyes at him. He grimaced in pain and leaned back against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting.

"I don't want to fight with you," Robin muttered, placated by the fact that Starfire was willing to bring at least some form of bodily harm to his brother. "The sooner he's back in Gotham-"

"He's going back to Gotham?" Starfire asked.

"Of course. He'll go to Jump City Jail and they'll call Bruce, who'll probably pay his bail and put him under lockdown at the manor. Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"She wants me to stay here," Jason taunted weakly.

Starfire didn't protest even though Robin gave her a space of silence to voice any contrary opinions she might have. "You do?" he demanded, a rough edge under the calm of his voice. She expected him to sound angry, but he sounded closer to panicking. It made her heart pang.

"He's your brother," she said softly. "I just hoped that you would want to mend your relationship-"

"He's _not_ my brother. Besides, _you_ banished your sister from your home planet," he reminded her spitefully.

She recoiled. "Yes, but she tried to send me to prison on the Centauri moons, tried to murder me for the throne, and organized a hostile takeover of the planet from which I banished her."

Robin sighed wearily. "There's more going on here than just 'he copied me', Starfire. I really, really need you to understand that."

She was trying to stay mad at him, but he was cracking her resolve. "How am I supposed to, if you do not talk about your past or your life outside of Jump City and the Titans to me?" she pressed.

He looked away from her. "Please, don't do this now. The focus here is this lying, thieving, manipulative-"

"Starfire, I didn't lie to you," Jason said, looking up at her. His voice sounded so vulnerable, and Starfire didn't think it was just because it was no longer synthetic.

Robin tensed up again, but Starfire grabbed his hand to steady him. "How can you possibly say that?"

"Okay, maybe I lied a little. But initially, I didn't. I told you that I was Robin… and I am. I'm Robin."

"No," Robin cut in heatedly, "you _were_ Robin. Batman stripped the title from him when he pushed a rapist off a building," he explained to Starfire.

Jason struggled to his feet. "I _did not_ push Felipe Garzonas off that building. You weren't even there, asshole," he snarled at Robin. "But even if I did, I should be getting _thanked_, not dethroned. One of his victims killed themselves," he informed Starfire. She suddenly felt like she was in the middle of a tug-of-war.

"We don't kill, Jason. It doesn't make us any better than Felipe Garzonas, or Tony Zucco, or the Joker or Scarecrow or any of those guys if we do," Robin explained harshly.

"I never put any of your team in danger when I fought against you," Jason snapped back. "I don't hurt people." His voice cracked. Starfire wasn't sure if it was from desperation or weariness.

"What about Starfire? Don't you think that by tricking her like that- lying to her, making her trust you when you didn't deserve it- don't you think that hurt her?" Robin hissed, eyes narrowed.

Jason glared at Robin. His glare slowly turned into a softer look, then it turned unsure and pleading. "Starfire, I wasn't lying. I- I care about you," he blurted out.

"What?" Robin spluttered indignantly.

Jason ignored him and barreled on with his confession. "You're not like _him_-" he shot a scathing look at Robin- "you understand. You want to help. I- I need help."

"I'll say," Robin muttered.

Starfire shot him a dark look, which earned her a baffled and exasperated scowl.

She walked over to where Jason was struggling to remain standing. "Here, here," she soothed as, to Robin's shock, she pulled Jason into an awkward hug, thanks to his handcuffs. "You feel as though everyone is against you, do you not?"

Jason shot Robin a smug look and nodded into Starfire's neck. "Starfire…" Robin called as a warning.

She ignored him and squeezed Jason harder, unfortunately for him, and continued to try to soothe him. "Everyone is not against you! You simply need to explain to the Batman why it is you have done what you have, and forgiveness shall be bestowed. You shall earn back his trust, and all will be well."

Jason didn't answer, as he was attempting and failing to wriggle free from her suffocating hug. His eyes appeared to be bulging out of their sockets.

Robin shot Jason a malicious smile of his own. He cleared his throat. "Starfire…" he called again, this time holding back laughter. Roughed up as he was, Jason might not survive much more of that.

Jason sagged against the wall when Starfire released him, struggling to catch his breath. "What do you say now, Jay?" Robin asked, his malicious smile unwavering.

Jason glowered at Robin before smiling sweetly at Starfire. "Do you do everything as hard as you hug? Take these handcuffs off and find us a bed." He paused. "Or, you could have the handcuffs. I'm good with that."

Robin's smile quickly twisted into an angry grimace. He gritted his teeth and reached for a weapon in his belt, any weapon, in a blind fury.

Starfire cocked her head to the side. "What?"

"I'm asking if you're down to-"

"Starfire!" Robin shouted loudly, drowning out the last word. She turned to him, alarmed. "Why don't you call Cyborg on the T-comm and have him let us out, okay?" he suggested wearily.

Starfire shot him a confused look, but she did as she was asked, stepping away for privacy.

"Oh, man. Dick, come _on_. You can't keep all that to yourself. Spread the wealth."

"You had better hope that she doesn't leave my side until Bruce gets here, because that's the only thing stopping me from maiming you right now," Robin told him in a voice quiet enough so that Starfire wouldn't hear, but just loud enough to be intimidating.

He actually paled, and Robin was about to congratulate himself on a job well done when Jason croaked, "You're calling Bruce?"

"Well, it's either that or put you in jail and have Bruce pay your bail after having to wake up to an unpleasant phone call," Robin answered.

"Is there any chance that Starfire will be going back to Gotham with me?" he asked, seeming to have recovered a little.

Robin slammed Jason's head back into the steel wall, calculatedly hard enough to hurt _a lot_, but not quite hard enough to make him pass out. Starfire turned to him, startled, as he stood up and Jason collapsed to the ground, swearing softly. "My hand slipped," Robin offered as an explanation.

The door opened and Robin pushed Starfire out of the room, ducking under Cyborg's arm as he held the door open for them. "Everything… good?"

Starfire glanced at Robin, unsure of what to say. Robin only offered a simple, "Yes. He'll be gone by this afternoon. Keep the Tower on lockdown until he's gone."

"Aren't we gonna send him to jail?" Cyborg asked. He pressed a button near the door and a cot slid out of the wall. They occasionally had to keep criminals in the tower overnight, and this was the best they could do while keeping them under constant surveillance.

"I'm working it out," Robin said.

Cyborg let his questioning gaze linger on Robin, but his leader didn't offer anything more and he didn't push. Starfire offered Cyborg a smile to show him that everything was okay.

"Alright. I'm going back to bed. I'll have the insurance claims ready for the morning."

"What's the damage?" Robin asked, stopping his friend as he turned to leave.

Cyborg started ticking off places in their home on his fingers. "The entire common room, Star's room, the northeast hallway, the southeast hallway…"

Robin sighed. That was going to be a lot of paperwork. "Okay. Get some rest. See you in a few hours."

"Night, Rob. Night, Star. See you guys in the morning." Cyborg let out a huge yawn and walked down the dimly-lit halls.

Robin set an alarm in the room, just in case. After doing that, he ushered Starfire in the hallway and punched in keycodes on the door's panel to ramp up security, including only letting himself have access to the room for the next 24 hours.

"I'm glad that's finally over," he said to Starfire, leaning against the wall and letting his own tiredness wash over him.

She leaned her hands on his shoulders and pressed a quick kiss against his cheek. "Good night." She turned to leave, choosing to walk instead of fly because she was tired, when a gloved hand took hold of her own.

"Hey, what's the matter?" he asked softly, tugging her back to him.

"Nothing!" she assured him. "Why do you ask?"

He pulled her closer to him. "Your room's wrecked," he reminded her.

"So?" she asked, confused. They'd all had to sleep in their rooms when they were at least partially damaged before. And it wasn't like the walls had holes in them; at least, not the walls that opened up to the outside.

He put his hands on her hips and instinctively she wrapped her arms around his neck. He put his mouth near her ear. "Come sleep in mine," he suggested. He pressed a kiss against her neck.

Goosebumps prickled at Starfire's skin, so she pressed herself closer to him. "Okay," she agreed.

Robin leaned against the wall, pulling her with him. He kissed her slowly, letting one hand tangle in her hair as the other stayed on the small of her back, keeping her close to him. He broke the kiss after a few minutes. "Maybe we could just sleep in the hall," he said thoughtfully. He yawned.

Starfire pressed a quick kiss against his lips. "Robin, I am either sleeping in your bed or by myself in mine," she pretend-scolded him.

"You're no fun," he grumbled jokingly, pushing himself away from the wall and taking her hand in his, leading her to his bedroom.

**Sorry. I was suffering from lack of fluff. There hasn't been any fluff since the end of chapter 7, unless you count Robin slamming Jay's head into the wall in her defense as fluff. About that… I don't think, technically, that Jason Todd's eyes are dark. I think they're actually blue. But I needed a plot point. If you google it, you actually get a lot of results about Jay's eye color. It might be gray, but I decided to go with dark because symbolism. Plus, why does **_**everyone **_**from silver age comics have blue eyes? Seriously! Of the original 80's Titans, Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Aqualad and Speedy all had blue eyes. And Beast Boy had blue eyes when he was little before he became Beast Boy and green. This chapter was fun to write. I feel kind of weird about the innuendoes and Starfire not getting them, because, like, she's not stupid. But it was just easier to have her not get them and make Robin punish Jay than it was for her to get mad herself. And it was more fun. How did you guys like it?**

Robin nodded at his mentor. "Well, you know where all the doors are. And windows. Do you want me to walk you back to the roof, or do you want me to turn around so you can disappear enigmatically?" he asked bitterly.

**Whoo! Batman next chapter! Batfam drama! Bat-drama? Whatever you want to call it, expect it. Catch ya next chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I actually wasn't going to write this chapter. I was just going to leave off with the last chapter and decide that that was enough, but it didn't feel quite **_**done.**_** Warning: This chapter contains large amounts of fluff. **

Starfire opened her eyes hesitantly. She was so _comfortable_. She rubbed her cheek against her pillow. She took in a sleepy pre-yawn breath and smiled giddily. Her pillow smelled like Robin. Her eyes fluttered open. That was when she remembered that her pillow _was_ Robin. She was currently lying curled against him, using his chest as a pillow. She looked up at him and, to her embarrassment, found that he was already awake. He'd been just watching her.

"Good morning, gorgeous," he greeted her sleepily.

Starfire blushed. She knew that she was pretty decent looking, at least. She worked to maintain what she felt was a suitable level of attractiveness. She wasn't denying that. But she moved around a lot in her sleep. Her hair was falling in her face and her part was crooked, not to mention that it was tangled and poufy.

Robin seemed oblivious to all this and pressed his lips against her forehead.

"Good morning, Robin." She moved closer to him so that their heads were on the same level, instead of hers being at his chest level. They were lying on their sides, facing each other, and she put an arm over his shoulder and rested her wrist behind his neck. She kissed him gently and he slipped his hand under the covers to rest on the small of her back. She pulled back after a couple minutes and just let her own happiness diffuse a little. "Robin?"

"Yeah?" he asked, lacing his fingers through hers.

"I think that out of all of the mornings I have spent on Earth, this is turning out to be my favorite."

Robin raised an eyebrow at her skeptically. "What about when we had lunch in the park and you have mustard for the first time?" he countered.

"That was in the afternoon," she reminded him.

"It was at eleven! That's still morning." He smiled at her. "But that's okay. This might be my favorite morning, too."

She was almost overwhelmed by the desire to kiss him again, but somewhere in her mind she recognized the fact that they were going to have to get up eventually. "What time is it?" she asked.

"Why? Are you trying to get away from me?" Robin asked, rolling over so the he was looking down at her. He leaned over her to kiss her again.

Starfire giggled against his mouth. She pushed him away gently. "We must rise. Are we not expecting the Batman to come take the Red X back to Gotham this morning?"

Robin groaned and rested his forehead against his girlfriend's shoulder. "You're not doing a very good job of making me want to get out of bed. Can't we just spend all day doing this?"

"What?" she asked quizzically. "Prolonged lip contact? Will you not get tired of that?"

Robin laughed. "I don't think you have to worry about that, Star." He brushed his lips against hers quickly. He pushed himself into a sitting position.

Starfire giggled again. She was almost annoyed at herself for being reduced into a cuddly, giggly, kiss-craving mess so early in the morning, but she pushed it back. She was so _happy_, and she let herself really feel it because they never knew the next time Slade would attack or super-organizations of evil metahumans would attempt to kill them. The next time it did happen, she wanted to be able to remember mornings like this, where the first thing she saw as Robin's eyes and the first thing she tasted was the gentle press of his lips against hers and the first thing she felt was unabashed, unbridled love for someone who more likely than not was thinking the same thing.

She realized that she'd just been looking at him thinking all this, and she blinked slowly, trying to come up with a non-clingy explanation for why she was just staring at him in probably a goofily lovesick way.

He ran his hand through her hair. He was close enough to kiss her but he didn't because he was probably thinking the same thing that she was: that they needed to emerge from their cozy dream world and join everyone else in getting on with their day. "I love you," he murmured softly, caressing her check with his thumb.

"I love you, too," she purred back, sitting up and slipping her arms around his neck even though she probably shouldn't and kissing him deeply.

He put his hands on her waist and her whole world became Robin and she lost track of the seconds- or minutes- or hours- that they were kissing and was only able to break out of a weird kind of trance that was probably caused by a combination of the rush that came from kissing someone you really liked and the lack of quite enough oxygen that also came with really intense kissing when there was a metallic knock on the door.

"Um, Robin?" Cyborg's voice came through the door. "I'm really sorry to bother you… It's not an emergency… Red X wants me to loosen the cuffs and I figured I should run it by you first…" he explained hesitantly and apologetically.

Robin sighed. "Yeah, I'll be right there." He frowned at Starfire. "I'm gonna…"

She pushed him away from her. "I know. I am going to get changed. We have work that must be finished."

He looked suddenly serious. He brushed his fingers through his hair in an attempt to make it look like he didn't just roll out of bed.

He was going to have a difficult morning, at least emotionally. "How long do you think it will be until my room is fixed?"

He glanced at her as he picked his mask up off his dresser. "Uh… not sure. I have to send the claims to insurance first." He fitted it over his eyes and blinked once.

"Then I will sleep here again tonight?" she asked.

He smiled at her. "Well, you could go sleep in Beast Boy's room. He has a bunk bed, I think."

Starfire frowned at him. She knew that he was joking, but the thought of sleep in Beast Boy's room… with days-old pizza littered all over the floor and half-crushed energy drink cans covering his desk like a prized collection… "I think I would rather sleep outside."

Robin laughed as he fixed his cape onto the collar of his shirt. "See you," he said.

And he was gone. She was going to go back to her own room and get a clean uniform, maybe take a shower… She sighed and lay back on his bed. She straightened out the covers and tucked them neatly under the mattress. She combed her fingers through her hair self-consciously and hovered down the hall to her own room. Raven, whose hair was slightly damp from a shower, looked up at her in surprise.

"Good morning?"

"Good morning to you, too, friend!" Starfire greeted her happily.

"No, I mean… You seem really happy." Raven seemed somewhat confused.

"Um, yes!" the Tamaranean didn't know what else to say.

Raven nodded. "I'm glad. You've been really upset lately. I mean, from what I could tell…" she added quickly.

"Raven, you know that I do not mind it when you read my emotions," Starfire said gently.

The empath shrugged. "I know. I just don't want to feel like I'm invading your personal space. You're sleeping with Robin now?" That was one nice thing about talking to Starfire: there was no fear of her interpreting anything as an innuendo, even if it's intended to be.

"Yes! Until my room is fixed. I think."

Raven raised her eyebrows at her friend. "You know, I pretty much fixed the ops room, except for the couch. Robin must have forgotten to ask me to look at your room."

Starfire tilted her head. "Do you think so? I will ask him to look into it. Thank you for offering."

"No, Starfire, I was trying to tell you that I think… Uh… Never mind," she finished with a sigh.

Starfire continued down the hall, finally stepping through the door into her room. The walls were pock marked with burns from explosives and starbolts, and pieces of drywall littered the floor. There was on fist-sized hole that opened up into the hallway. In all honesty, she could have slept in here last night and she probably could manage sleeping in here tonight.

She grabbed a clean uniform from her closet and picked her hairbrush up off her dresser. She looked in her mirror, wondering exactly how bad her hair looked currently. She gasped, a scream stuck in her throat. She turned and blasted a starbolt at Red X. How did he get out of the cell in the interrogation room? Panic crept up her throat. Weren't Robin and Cyborg in there with him?

"Star? Starfire?" It was Beast Boy. He skidded to a stop at her doorway. "What's the matter?"

Starfire turned and pointed.

"Um, did the mask call you a bad name?" Beast Boy asked.

Starfire whirled around to where she saw Red X to find the mask laying on the floor where Robin had dropped it. She turned back to Beast Boy, embarrassed and upset. "I am sorry, friend, to have caused you concern needlessly. I thought-"

"Hey, Star, it's okay. Don't worry about it." He paused. "Actually, you could do me a favor and ask Robin to get Batman to autograph my picture!" He waggled his eyebrows at her hopefully as he held out the same picture he tried to trick Robin into taking back to Gotham.

She raised an eyebrow at him, but took the picture wordlessly.

"Yes!" he shouted, pulling his fist into his chest triumphantly.

Starfire sighed and gathered her things together for her shower. She took a quick one, because other people were waiting for the shower and because she wanted to grab some breakfast. She had cereal and coffee (which Cyborg made for her). She was right about liking coffee, but it made her very jittery. She didn't like that.

The energy from the coffee was conflicting with her powers. She kept charging starbolts in her hands, trying to release some of the energy.

"Star," Cyborg said gently after a few minutes of warily watching her, "no offense, but do you think you could go up to the roof and maybe shoot a few starbolts up there? …You're making me nervous in here."

She leapt up quickly. "Of course! I am sorry to have bothered you. I won't let it happen again. Thank you for the coffee, I appreciate it very much. It was delicious. How much caffeine did you say was in it again?" Her words were tumbling out of her mouth too quickly.

Cyborg narrowed his eye at her. "Too much. Sorry, star, but I think I'm cutting you off. Forever."

"Oh, but it is a pleasurable drink, and I am sure that if I tried less of it at once, it would make a pleasant food-"

"Food?" Cyborg asked, startled.

"I will be on the roof," Starfire said over her shoulder as she flew out of the ops room.

Actually, she probably should have gone to the training room. She charged up an unusually large amount of energy in her hands, letting it out slowly as she spun in a circle. This created a large starbolt. It wasn't easy to control the size of it, and it was even harder to throw, but it was a really good way to work off the excess energy.

A black shape appeared out of the corner of her eye. She spun quickly to face what appeared to be an anthropomorphic shadow suddenly looming in her peripheral vision. She didn't know how long it had been there. It couldn't have been long at all, she was just looking in that direction a second ago. Her eyes and hands were glowing fiercely, and her face was set in a vicious scowl. She gasped when she realized who it was, so startled that she fell out of the air, bruising her backside.

She scrambled to her feet. She couldn't tell if the person in front of her was amused or annoyed. "Forgive me. I did not realize that it was you."

He choose to observe her rather than answer her. It made her uncomfortable. He was looking at her closely in an analytical way. She fidgeted uncomfortably.

"I take it you're Starfire," he said at last, his voice surprisingly gruff.

"Yes, sir," she answered. He reminded her a lot of her own father in the way he commanded obedience without really trying- if you could call parading around in a Kevlar bat-themed suit with a fully stocked weapons belt and a car that shot missiles not trying.

"I've heard a lot about you," he told her.

Starfire blushed, to her horror. She tried to fight it away. "You have?"

Batman shrugged. "Well, Robin told me your name and the nature of your relationship. I researched the rest at the JLA satellite."

Starfire tried desperately to think of something to say.

"Considering that it came from Dick, I heard a lot about you," Batman offered, realizing that what he said might possibly be considered offensive.

Starfire just nodded. "Would you like for me to bring Robin to you, or take you inside?" she asked, desperately hoping that he would say yes to one of those so that they wouldn't have to stand next to each other and try not to be awkward.

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary."

She raised an eyebrow at him. How was Robin to know that he was here if he didn't-

Robin appeared on the roof, a bat-shaped object in his hand that Starfire had never seen before. His mouth fell open at the sight of them together. He looked from Starfire to Batman a few times.

Well, at least they all felt awkward about this.

"Starfire, this is Batman," he said finally, probably more because he felt that he was obligated to than because they didn't know who the other was. "Batman, Starfire." He gestured between the two of them.

Batman nodded.

Robin came up behind Starfire and put his hand on the small of her back, pushing her away from Batman to hiss, "You just let Jason roam the streets of Gotham after bringing him under months of your tutelage and expected him _not_ to lash out in some way?"

Starfire wondered if she should leave, but Robin kept his hand firmly on her back. She wasn't even sure that he knew he was still doing it.

Batman narrowed his eyes at his protégé. "I wasn't aware that he proved too much for you to handle."

Robin narrowed his eyes right back, but he reined in the anger in his voice. "He wasn't. As is evidenced by the fact that we have him handcuffed and ready to hand back to you."

"Besides," Batman continued, "I don't know where he got the funds for that suit. You should probably be tracking down whatever madman is genius enough to make the suit and those weapons, but crazy enough to base it on a xynothium power core."

Robin opened his mouth to answer, then snapped it shut.

Starfire jumped in quickly. "I can assure you, sir, that the maker of that suit is no longer a danger to anyone around him. If you will excuse the mess, I would be most honored to take you to the interrogation room where we have been keeping Jason Todd." She smiled soothingly at her boyfriend and his adoptive father.

Batman shot Robin an unsure glance, before nodding once. "Go ahead."

Starfire walked ahead of the two of them, and they stayed silent. When she got to the door, she let Robin punch in the keycode and they all stepped inside. Robin flipped a switch on the wall, allowing Jason to see through the Plexiglas instead of just reflecting himself back at him.

Jason stood and peered through the glass at them. His eyes rested on Robin first, then Batman, and then, with a sigh of relief, he called, "Starfire."

She stepped away from him instinctively, even though there was bullet-proof Plexiglas between them, and he was weaponless and handcuffed.

"See?" Robin demanded irritably.

Batman turned to Robin. "You called me here because Jay has a crush on your girlfriend?" he asked critically.

Robin's mouth fell open. "No, I-! He's been stealing, he's screwing around with xynothium-"

The Caped Crusader ignored the point his protégé was making. "I have to tell you, I'm about as worried about Jay becoming a rapist as I am about you growing up to make a living by extorting money from circuses."

Robin frowned at him. "He either goes with you or he goes in jail. He's inspiring other thieves and criminals in Jump."

"Alright, I'll take him home. I'll put him under lockdown in the manor for a few months, but I _am not_ letting him go free in the streets of Gotham. You think you can solve your problem by passing on your criminals to me? You think Gotham needs another criminal?" Batman demanded harshly.

Robin glared at him. "I have no problem putting Jason Todd, the son of Bruce Wayne, in jail in Jump. They'd probably ship him off to the juvenile center of the prison. I don't know how much you want that kind of publicity." Robin paused. When he continued, his voice was a little softer. "It's not about giving Gotham another criminal. It's about defending each city fairly."

Batman narrowed his eyes at his ex-apprentice. He reached his arm out slowly and put his hand on Robin's shoulder, like it was a gesture he knew he should be familiar with, but was out of practice in doing.

The Boy Wonder glanced at Starfire, and she suddenly felt like she was intruding. "Robin, I will go, uh, prepare Red- I mean, Jason- for transport."

He shot her an expression that seemed to combine concern and gratefulness. "Are you sure?"

She paused. It might have been teasing a hungry dog with food, but she wanted to see him one more time. She didn't have any real feelings for him, but she felt a twinge in her stomach when she thought of letting him leave without even saying anything. She felt somehow responsible for him. "Yes."

"Okay. You're going to want to change those cuffs. The others are in the closet there, and-"

"It's okay, Robin," she interrupted gently. "I am capable."

He glanced at the ground and she turned away from the Dynamic Duo to a storage closet behind them. The reason they had to switch cuffs on outgoing criminals was because the ones the Titans fitted on their 'overnight guests' were set to have an alarm go off if they got outside of the interrogation room. For obvious reasons, they had to take those before they left. The handcuffs she was getting from the closet were equipped with a tracking system, which the Titans found convenient for transport.

She grabbed them off the top shelf and let herself into the cell.

"You met the old man, I see," Jason remarked after the door was shut behind her.

"Yes. He is… nice."

Jason laughed. "Oh, Princess, you try so hard to be nice to everybody that you turn yourself into a liar."

She frowned at him. "I am here to take your handcuffs off."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "I'm wearing handcuffs and a hot girl has the key in her hand… This has to be some weird dream."

She ignored him. She slid the key into place and as soon as he could move his arms freely, he rubbed his wrists, sighing. "You are hurt?" Starfire asked guiltily.

He looked up at her, a pleased smile on his face. "No, but my wrists've been itching me." He stretched his shoulders and she heard multiple tiny cracks. "God, it feels good to move again."

Starfire looked regretfully down at her hands.

"Can't I just get a couple of minutes of freedom?" Jason asked. His tone was playful, but she didn't think he was really joking. She glanced at the Plexiglas. Robin and Batman were talking, so she had time. Besides, she still had something she wanted to say to the thief.

"I have been thinking…" she began.

"About you and me? I'm flattered, but what would Dickie say? Not that I care, it's just fun imagining it."

Starfire ignored him. "Why did you say that you loved me?"

Jason's dark eyes rounded in surprise, then narrowed. "Why are you asking me that?"

Starfire looked at her feet and kicked at a scuff mark on the floor. "I do not know how much about my past you really know, but I am guessing that you know about Tamaran. We take emotions much more seriously there. For someone to say that they love you is not to be taken lightly. I am aware that it is not quite the same here, but still I wonder if you meant it."

He paused, calculating. "Okay, so maybe I don't _love_ you. I think you're really hot. And I think that you have this great personality- that you've seen a lot of shit and you don't let it get you down. At first I started to look at you because Dick was, and I thought it would be fun to piss him off. But then I started to think-" He cut himself off and looked at her for a little bit longer than was comfortable.

"I don't love you. But I think that if things were different, I could. Very easily. But it's not even Important, because you hate me, so…"

"I do not!' Starfire assured him quickly. He raised an eyebrow at her doubtfully. "You have angered me, and I think you are rude. But you seem confused to me. I think that all of this is a cry for help."

He looked angry at her for saying that, and then he paused. He opened his mouth to answer her, but before he could, he closed it again. "I think Dick's getting impatient," he said.

"What?" she asked. Jason jerked his chin at the Plexiglas and Starfire turned to look. Robin was looking at her, a slightly pained expression on his face. She quickly turned Jason around and slipped the new handcuffs over his wrists, clicking them in place. She made them a little bit looser than they were before.

He gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Princess."

Starfire led him over to the door and Robin yanked it open, letting them out. She took her place next to her boyfriend while Jason stood next to his adoptive father, looking very much like a kid afraid to be grounded.

Robin nodded at his mentor. "Well, you know where all the doors are. And windows. Do you want me to walk you back to the roof, or do you want me to turn around so you can disappear enigmatically?" he asked bitterly.

"Hey!" Jason interrupted. "Don't I get a kiss for the road?" he leaned forward and puckered his for effect.

Robin tensed up next to Starfire, but didn't move. Batman yanked Jason behind him. "Goodbye. It was nice meeting you," he said to Starfire automatically. She bowed her head in response. This show of respect made Batman smile a little. "I like her," he said to Robin. "She's respectful. You could probably stand to learn something from her."

Not bothering to gage robin's response, he turned and started to walk toward the door. "Goodbye. Good luck," he said over his shoulder.

"Yeah, you too," Robin muttered back.

When they were out of sight, Starfire felt Robin wilt with relief beside her. After a few seconds, she turned to face him and gingerly reached back for the edge of his mask.

"Hey! What-?"

"I just want to see," she soothed as she drew it away from his eyes.

She pressed his mask into his hands. His eyes were bright blue, like a clear sky reflected over ice. She should have known when she first saw Jason's eyes that it wasn't him. Jason's eyes were so dark and stony. Robin's, though, were so bright. A beacon of light amid his other features- usually a worried scowl, his dark hair, the black of his cape… He could get so caught up in his work and could get thrown into such deep spells of melancholy and anger, but it never changed the fact that he exuded goodwill. She wondered now if the brightness there was what held him together. Maybe that was why Jason had become a thief and Robin moved on from that to remain a superhero.

"Starfire," he mumbled, his voice soft and gentle, "you're staring at me."

She hadn't even noticed. She refocused her gaze. "Are you okay?" She was worried that he might be a little moody after his encounter with the Dark Knight.

He just smiled at her. "Yeah, I am." His smile grew wider. "He likes you. Which isn't really surprising, because everybody should. But if anybody didn't, it would be him. And he does, so…" Robin let his voice trail off. He traced his thumb over her cheekbone, concern flickering in his eyes. "Are _you_ okay?

She paused. What she had said was true- she really didn't hate Jason. She wished that none of that had happened, but it did, and she didn't want to change that. She felt even closer to Robin than she did before. "Yes. Yes, I am." She grinned back at him, assuring him that even though she paused, her answer was genuine.

**Hooray! My first multichapter Teen Titans fic to be published to the site. Thanks for reading it! Feedback is appreciated! Sorry for hitting you over the head with eye color related symbolism. It had to be done. Do you think adding this last chapter was better, or should I have just left it at nine? Let me know in the reviews!**


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